Elementary students in Lewis and Robertson counties will soon be part of a project to help them get a sense for business.

Last week, Gov. Steve Beshear's office announced the Innovative Entrepreneurship Project for Eastern Kentucky schools. It's a collaborative effort between the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Governor's Office of Agricultural Policy to fund a project placing entrepreneurial instruction in 18 designated counties. It targets fifth through eighth graders.

The Kentucky Entrepreneurial Coaches Institute obtained the grant from ARC to provide teacher instruction and curriculum for the youth entrepreneurship education program, E-Discovery Challenge. It's under the auspices of the University of Kentucky.

"E-Discovery Challenge provides students an introduction to the free enterprise system," said Annette Walters, a KECI coach and one of the women responsible for piloting the program. "I believe it will have a long-term impact in their counties."

Walters, along with Melony Furby, the community developer for entrepreneurship for KECI and project manager for E-Discovery Challenge, began a pilot program during the 2008-09 school year in Ann DeSpain's sixth-grade class at St. Patrick School in Maysville. Walters and Furby are also working with DeSpain's class again this year, but with a different group of students.

"This is helping us refine our materials," Furby said. "We know our process works but now we're just fine-tuning it."

The grant will fund about $200,000 for the project and will be implemented in Bath, Carter, Elliott, Lawrence, Lewis, Menifee, Morgan, Robertson and Wolfe counties in northeastern Kentucky as well as Casey, Clay, Clinton, Cumberland, Hart, McCreary, Monroe, Russell and Wayne counties in the south-central part of the state.

"The grant will provide new opportunities for our youth to develop their imagination and dreams and to create new enterprise," said Ron Hustedde, director of KECI and UK professor of community and leadership development. "This is education at its best because it is active involvement in learning. I'm thrilled for the teachers to have a curriculum that has been field-tested and works."

When the grant was written, Furby and Walters hoped to get about 50 teachers and 800 students involved in the program. Since the funding has been provided, they have been in contact with area educators to get as many as possible on board for the program. They exceed their initial goal and now have approximately 65 teachers and 2,000 students willing to participate, according to Furby.

They hope to provide the teachers with the training courses during the first few weeks of December. Then the instruction will begin being implemented in January after students return from the holiday break.

Students will receive one hour each week for nine weeks of entrepreneurial instruction. During that time, each class will be split into groups that will form a business and decide on a product to eventually sell. The groups will be given a set amount for seed money, they'll manufacture their own products and eventually sell the products at a school or community event at the end of the project.

"With this E-Discovery Challenge, it kind of brings a lot of subjects together," Furby said.

Students will be required to pay back the seed money given to start their businesses, but the groups can split any profit made after the sale.

The hope is that the students will learn something that will help them make a lasting impact on their home communities. They may even grow up to start their own business, which will help create jobs and contribute to the area's economic strength.

"No matter what career path students eventually chose, if they have an understanding of how to develop a business it can not only enhance their skills, but also has the potential to impact the economy of our state," Furby said.