“Apps, Entrepreneurship, and Travel” at Duluth High School
By: Brian David Crane
Tags: Entrepreneurship, Mentorship, Study Abroad, Side Hustle, Education

On Friday I spoke at Duluth High School, giving a presentation called “Apps, Entrepreneurship, and Travel.” It’s become an annual tradition — this is the third year I’ve done so — and it’s due to my good friend Jordan vouching for me.

I love seeing Jordan’s work environment. He was Teacher of the Year last year at Duluth, so that’s special as well because he’s finally getting the recognition he deserves. It’s also a chance to see inside a big public high school that’s on the front lines of America’s culture wars in a way.

It’s so easy to become cynical about America watching the news, watching the political mudslinging, etc. You’d think the country was imploding. My experience at Duluth gives me a lot of hope. A couple notes:

a. I asked the kids how many of them had parents who were born overseas — over 50% raised their hands. Yeah they’re teenagers. But they are hungry to learn. They are in America, they speak English, and for a lot of them their parents emigrated to give them a better life. They’re thinking about their future.

We talked a lot about avoiding student debt like the plague if possible, taking a gap year if you’re not sure what you want to study, how to get a side hustle up and going so you can test ideas, studying abroad whilst in school, finding a mentor, and more. Sure not all the kids were interested in these topics. But the majority were — and how many of us were asking these sort of questions when we were 14 or 15?

b. The kids at Duluth make the United Nations look like chump change. What’s so fascinating to me is every year when I go down to the cafeteria, there is no noticeable racial segregation. I mean none; I was looking for it and couldn’t find it. Kids sit together based on interest — the art kids, the band geeks, the gamers, the jocks, etc. They’re not self-segregating around race. That is so encouraging to see. MLK Jr. would be proud I believe: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Duluth is a testament to that.

c. I found out that one girl, Anu, who’d heard me speak previously went off and created an app called “Impact Atlanta” which enables users of her app to support three great local charities by allowing them to buy needed supplies directly thru the app and ensure they get to their chosen charity. How cool is that?! She learned to code, she got it off the ground, it’s in both the Android and iOS app stores, and it actually works! Check it out; I’m proud of her: https://impactatl.org/about/

Thanks Jordan for inviting me into Duluth again. Keep up the magic that y’all got going there. ✨👏

P.S. For anyone who is interested here’s a recording of the talk I gave last year at Duluth: https://youtu.be/ri6T7RgGlDc. This year I changed it up and made it a lot shorter w/more personal travel videos from Jogjakarta and Bali in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Poland, which I think the kids really appreciated. Plus some of the kids had either been to these countries, had parents from them, and/or Jordan had taught about them in his classes so it was more “real” in a way. Inspiring day for sure!