A former Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. educator is taking her eye for innovation from the elementary school classroom to a new job working with high school students.
Courtney Rushton joined the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce as its new Maverick Challenge coordinator last month after serving six years as a kindergarten teacher, first-grade teacher and a Universal Design for Learning facilitator for BCSC.
"My background is in elementary, so the fact that I’m doing high school work sounds odd," Rushton said. "I’m very excited to still have ties to education. I believe in giving our students real world application in our classrooms. This challenge does exactly that."
The Maverick Challenge is a high school business planning competition for southern Indiana high school students. Since 2008, more than 1,000 students from more than 17 Indiana high schools have participated in the challenge.
As the challenge coordinator, Rushton will manage a curriculum created for the students who compete in the challenge. The curriculum must be completed by each competing student.
Becoming a business owner never crossed Rushton’s mind when she was in high school, but now she said she and her husband share a dream of opening their own business one day.
"It’s amazing how this opportunity has presented itself," Rushton said.
While at BCSC, Rushton piloted educational practices and resources for the corporation, served on and managed key committees, provided project support, coordination and collaboration for educators, and developed and implemented a professional learning model for educators in two elementary schools.
The Maverick Challenge will kick off this fall when the chamber’s new entrepreneur-in-residence, Cy Megnin, visits local high school classrooms to talk about student innovation.
Registration opens Aug. 30 through Sept. 11 for the Maverick Challenge and is open to any Bartholomew County high school student. Several local high school teachers also involve their classes in the challenge and complete the curriculum as coursework.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”About the Maverick Challenge” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
The Maverick Challenge is a high school business planning competition for high school students in southern Indiana.
The challenge aims to further develop the innovative spirit of our region by reaching out to high school students and showing them viable career opportunities through entrepreneurship.
To learn more, visit maverickchallenge.com.
[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Meet Courtney Rushton” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Hometown: Trafalgar
Career: Kindergarten teacher; first grade teacher; Universal Design for Learning facilitator at BCSC; Maverick Challenge coordinator
Family: Husband, Bryan; daughter, Sutton
[sc:pullout-text-end]
