In a rural Texas school district, a first-year entrepreneurship program has turned a high school classroom into a startup incubator, raising $21,000 in seed money and scholarships and launching six student-run companies. The results, detailed in a recent episode of The Building Texas Show, highlight how community-driven education can thrive even as rural districts face funding constraints.
Jason Roemer, a 27-year business educator at Fredericksburg High School, built the district's INCubatoredu program, a national curriculum developed by Uncharted Learning. Over a full school year, students develop and pitch a real business, culminating in a sold-out pitch night. In its debut year, Roemer recruited more than 30 local business owners, board advisors, and judges. Six student teams built businesses from idea to public pitch, and the program raised $20,000-$25,000—money that Roemer says stays entirely in the classroom, on top of his teacher's salary, within a Texas school finance system that pulls funding back out of rural districts.
The volunteer bench reads like a cross-section of the local economy. David Pedragon, who built and later sold Dogology, a Main Street pet store, mentors students on failure and pivoting. Chad Myers, CEO of Core Javelina Holdings, manufactures and distributes rubber components used on an estimated 90% of new-build airbag suspension systems for 18-wheelers—from a facility just outside Fredericksburg. Dan Kemp, CEO of Security State Bank, spoke about intrapreneurship: “I'm not an entrepreneur, I'm an intrapreneur. I look to grow my business every day.” Central Texas Electric CEO Mr. Hinojosa taught project management, and rancher Sam Sage of Hillside Beef rounded out the mentor team.
Roemer credits the model, not himself, for the results. “The coach is only as good as the players,” he said. “We've been blessed with a tremendous team of volunteers, starting with David Pedragon and going all the way down.”
Heading into year two, the program has roughly doubled its volunteer pool, helped by a student from the winning pitch team who asked to return as a mentor the day after the contest. Roemer is in talks with Fredericksburg's Chamber of Commerce about a permanent Main Street presence and has shared the model with educators in Hondo, Dripping Springs, and College Station who are considering it for their own districts. He points interested districts to Uncharted Learning's curriculum as a starting point.
The story was featured on The Building Texas Show, a podcast hosted by Justin McKenzie that spotlights the founders, educators, and community champions shaping Texas's entrepreneurial economy. For rural communities, the Fredericksburg experiment offers a potential blueprint: engaging local businesses to mentor students and fund programs without relying on tax dollars beyond a teacher's salary. As Texas school districts grapple with funding challenges, such community-backed initiatives could help bridge the gap, providing students with real-world skills and a direct path to entrepreneurship. The program's early success suggests that with the right support, even small-town high schools can become engines of innovation.
