Not that long ago, Venezuela was the fastest-growing economy in Latin America. Today, it is a country in deep crisis. KWHS interviewer Emmie Stratakis recently sat down with Wharton student and Venezuela native Eugenia Carmona to discuss the economic and humanitarian challenges facing Eugenia's family and friends back home, and what she sees for […]

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If you have played or even seen Pokemon Go, then you’re already familiar with one of the hottest high-tech concepts around, augmented reality or AR. Augmented reality mixes the physical with the virtual, superimposing a computer-generated image onto the view of the real world so that it becomes an interactive […]

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Our high school-aged readers – better known as Generation Z – intimately understand their world, navigating “Local Twitter” and knowing how to get friends’ attention with their latest “Snap Story.” And then there’s the rest of the world. While many companies and brands think they understand the best way to reach Gen […]

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As we looked around to feature interesting summer internships on KWHS, we were happy to discover one right in our backyard. The University of Pennsylvania’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology – commonly called the Penn Museum – is the largest university museum in the U.S. and features collections of artifacts […]

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Knowledge@Wharton High School is often curious about the business talent right at our doorstep – namely undergraduate students who are exploring and pioneering in all areas of entrepreneurship and leadership. When we heard about rePurpose, a digital recyclable waste marketplace created by undergrads Peter Wang Hjemdahl, Svanika Balasubramanian and Aditya Siroya, we […]

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Entrepreneur and high school freshman Emily Scott, 14, recently joined KWHS interviewer Anthony Williams in the studio to discuss her invention, the Clip and Zip Backpack. Scott is taking many lessons away from her first business experience, including the emotional roller coaster of crowdfunding a business idea through an online […]

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Entrepreneur and high school freshman Emily Scott, 14, recently joined KWHS interviewer Anthony Williams in the studio to discuss her invention, the Clip and Zip Backpack. Scott is taking many lessons away from her first business experience, including the emotional roller coaster of crowdfunding a business idea through an online platform like Kickstarter. Her campaign to raise money for her backpack idea is live until Saturday, April 14, 2018 at 5:13 p.m. EDT.

Below is an edited version of their conversation.

https://youtu.be/rN8zuVWOt5c

Knowledge@Wharton High School (KWHS): Hi, I'm Anthony Williams with Knowledge@Wharton High School. Joining us today in the KWHS studio is inventor Emily Scott. Emily is a high school freshman and in the University Scholars Program of the Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School in Philadelphia. Like most high school students, Emily's got all kinds of things going on. She's a busy student, a competitive swimmer, a classical pianist, and an avid fan of Dungeons and Dragons. Emily is also an alumnus of the Young Entrepreneurs Academy, where she created a product that is now patent-pending.

Emily's Clip and Zip backpack has gone through four prototypes and six manufacturers and is currently the focus of a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter. So hi, Emily.

Emily Scott: Hello.

KWHS: Thanks for talking business and entrepreneurship with us here today at KWHS. To begin with, I'm really curious to know how someone goes from middle school to crowdsourcing a new product on Kickstarter. When did you develop an interest in inventing, and what is the Clip and Zip Backpack?

Scott: Well, it was never really an interest in inventing. I'm a swimmer, and so every day after swimming, I used to put my wet swimsuit into the bottom of my backpack. The problem with that is that it stays in the bottom of my backpack when I get home. The next day you take it out, and it's cold and wet and not very fun to put on. It was sort of a "eureka" moment, a "there-has-to-be-a-better-way" moment. So, I invented the Clip and Zip Backpack.

The way that it works is it's a clothesline within a backpack. There’s an interior strap, and after swimming, you take your swimsuit, you clip it onto the interior strap, and then you take it home. Then you unzip the backpack. It opens sort of like a clamshell, and your clothes are already hanging, ready to dry.

KWHS: You’ve had four prototypes and six manufacturers. It sounds like product development has been pretty comprehensive. What have you learned about this process and what it takes to achieve this final design?

Scott: I think that a common misconception with entrepreneurship is that it's easy. I mean, it's a great ideal to be able to own your business, to make your own hours, to have profits and all of that. But really the key behind it is persistence.

I remember hearing once, somebody said, "You only see a person's successes, never the private sacrifices taken to reach them." And I think that's really true, especially in this kind of environment. So the iterations were difficult, and after lots and lots of work, we have finally reached a product that's ready to go to market.

KWHS: Can you please elaborate a little bit more on what you mean by "persistence?" And what really has this journey been like for you? Can you paint me a picture?

Scott: Well, I think that there's, of course, the technical persistence -- the knowledge -- and how you learn through the process through the iterations of prototypes and such. But I think there's also an emotional persistence. There's always that fear that, "Well, I think this product is great," and you hope that everybody else does, too. But there's always that little bit of uncertainty that perhaps it might not go to market. And because of that, it's sort of a rollercoaster.

David Stillman and his Generation Z son, Jonah Stillman, who is 17 and a senior at Minnetonka High School in Minnesota, have written a book to help sort out the generational gap between younger people. They discussed their book, Gen Z @ Work: How the Next Generation Is Transforming the Workplace, on the […]

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David Stillman and his Generation Z son, Jonah Stillman, who is 17 and a senior at Minnetonka High School in Minnesota, have written a book to help sort out the generational gap between younger people. They discussed their book, Gen Z @ Work: How the Next Generation Is Transforming the Workplace, on the Knowledge@Wharton show, which airs on Wharton Business Radio on SiriusXM channel 111.

While some debate surrounds the exact definition of Generation Z, most demographers include people born between 1995 and 2012. In the United States, those years include nearly 79 million people close to entering the workforce or in the first stage of their careers. But the Stillmans warn that employers shouldn’t confuse “Zers” with millennials, who are a generation older. (Listen to the podcast at the top of this page.)

Here are three key points from the conversation:

Generation Z is ambitious and hardworking.

Compared to the millennial generation, Gen Z is more competitive and independent. Millennials were raised to believe in collaboration and inclusion, which are positive traits that extend to their work ethic. However, the view that everyone wins if everyone works together isn’t necessarily realistic.

“I was told that there [are] winners and losers, and if I’m not willing to work my butt off there are 70 million other Gen Zers who are going to come right up behind you and take your job,” Jonah Stillman says. “We are a very competitive and driven generation.”

It’s important for millennial managers to realize they need a different approach with their youngest charges. “Now we’ve got a generation that’s going to be much more independent and very competitive,” David Stillman says. “I think we run the risk that millennials will dismiss this generation as not loyal, not team players, and it’s just not true. They’re coming and looking through a completely different lens. I think step one is that we need to train those who are going to be on the frontlines just how different Gen Z will be from millennials.”

Generation Z babies are digital natives.

Employees who belong to Generation Z have never known life without the Internet or social media, and they are comfortable with rapidly changing technology. It’s a trait that the Stillmans identify as phygital. “Phygital has sort of blurred the lines between physical and digital,” David Stillman says. “They see no line at all. This generation has only known a world where their phones are smart.”

Because Zers are digital natives, they can serve as authority figures on the technology that is so imperative to the modern workplace. They are quick to streamline processes, and they have less hesitation or fear to try something new.

“One thing we heard again and again in researching for the book was Gen Z felt the other generations over-thought a lot of things and took too long,” David Stillman says. “So, they are going to be good to say, ‘Let’s just try it, let’s get out there, let’s do it and maybe cut out a lot of the deep, long processes.’

“At the same time, we have to be careful because this generation can act too quickly. You don’t want them having a company spend all these resources to move something that is only just a quick fad that came and went.”

Generation Z is looking for alternatives.

Economic and political events — including Sept. 11th and the Great Recession (beginning around 2007) — have critically shaped the worldview of Gen Zers. While millennials are often seen as having an undeserved sense of entitlement, Zers have an attitude more in line with their Generation X parents. David Stillman describes it as the difference between: “Wow, this job is lucky to have me,” and “Wow, I’m so lucky to have this job.” “That switch up, because of the Recession as well as Gen X parents with some tough love, [means] 76% of Gen Z said they are willing to start at the bottom and work their way up,” notes David.

Katlyn Grasso is the founder of GenHERation, a network and online platform that seeks to empower young women by, in part, connecting them with companies and mentors. As CEO, Grasso has created the GenHERation Summer Leadership Series, as well as Discovery Days, immersive summer day trips that provide high school […]

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