High Schoolers Learning To Make A ‘Noble Impact’

Thirty-eight students from seven central Arkansas high schools are spending the next two weeks considering entrepreneurial solutions to social problems.

Noble Impact is the brainchild of Steve Clark, founder of Propak, a 1,500-employee supply chain management company, and Rockfish Interactive, a digital marketing company.

Students are attending sessions about entrepreneurship and are learning about problems in central Arkansas from local activists and students at the Clinton School of Public Service. They are being formed into teams that will marry those two concepts in an attempt to solve specific problems. Next Friday, the students will present their ideas to panels of judges who will select a winning team.

The Clinton School and the University of Arkansas’ Sam M. Walton College of Business are partners in the effort.

During and after a presentation at the Clinton School today, Clark said social entrepreneurship is different than the typical approach to solving problems, which is to start a program that seeks money indefinitely. An entrepreneurial approach attempts to create a self-sustaining model that ultimately fixes the problem. For example, to feed hungry people, a cooperative could be formed that would generate cash and keep people fed.

Clark said organizers of Noble Impact expect students to create workable solutions that result in real-world efforts.

“I will be profoundly disappointed if we don’t have at least one program that would be successful,” he said.

He said several schools have shown an interest in adopting the program, and he hopes to make it a regular Arkansas course offering.