Marist Students Bring Their Business Ideas to Life at INCubatoredu Showcase

Marist High School students joined fellow young entrepreneurs from Chicago-area Catholic high schools for the INCubatoredu Showcase at De La Salle Institute in Chicago on Monday, November 2.

The INCubatoredu course, formerly known at Marist as the IDEA class, is taught by Mr. Tim Mulcahy ’93 and gives students the opportunity to explore entrepreneurship, develop original business concepts, and learn what it takes to bring an idea to life.

Representing Marist were 70 students across three class sections and 15 student teams, all eager to share their emerging business ideas, receive feedback, and take the next steps in developing their ventures.

The INCubatoredu Showcase is a peer-to-peer learning opportunity that allows students to present their business concepts to students from other schools through short, 2–3-minute elevator pitches. Following the presentations, students vote for the top teams, which earn the opportunity to deliver a more in-depth, five-minute pitch to a panel of entrepreneurs and receive valuable feedback on their business models.

Beyond pitching, the showcase gives students the opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations with potential customers, conduct problem and solution interviews, and gather real-world feedback to strengthen their ideas. These experiences help students refine their minimum viable products (MVPs), make informed business decisions, and build confidence in communicating their vision.

Through hands-on courses like INCubatoredu, Marist students are developing the creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and entrepreneurial skills needed to turn ideas into action.

Below are some photos from the event: