Help HCC Students Turn Culture Into Creativity, Stories Into Innovation, and Ideas Into Impact
Houston City College faculty are invited to serve as Faculty Mentors for the Culture is Currency National HSI STEAM Innovation Challenge, a national initiative that brings together culture, entrepreneurship, technology, STEAM, and digital storytelling.
Powered by California State University and a national network of HSI Innovation Hubs, including Houston City College, this grant-funded initiative gives HCC students the opportunity to work in interdisciplinary teams to capture and share the entrepreneurial journeys of Houston-area business owners.
What Will Students Do?
- Teams of 2–5 HCC students will identify and interview a local entrepreneur, exploring the story behind their business—including how they recognized an opportunity, overcame challenges, made financial decisions, embraced innovation, and created value within their community.
Through our partnership with Apple, students will participate in a creative bootcamp and use iPads, iPhones, and Apple creative applications to transform their research and interviews into engaging podcasts and digital videos.
We Need Faculty Mentors!
Faculty mentors will play an important role in helping student teams move their projects from idea to final story. Mentors can provide guidance, encouragement, feedback, and subject-matter perspective as students research entrepreneurs, prepare interviews, develop their narratives, create digital content, and prepare their final projects.
You do not need to be an entrepreneurship expert to participate. We welcome faculty from across disciplines—including business, STEAM, communications, English, journalism, digital media, graphic design, technology, education, social sciences, humanities, and the arts. Your expertise can help students approach entrepreneurship from new and creative perspectives.
As a Faculty Mentor, you can help students:
- 💡 Strengthen their ideas through critical thinking and design thinking
- 🔎 Conduct meaningful research and prepare thoughtful interview questions
- 🎙️ Develop strong storytelling, interviewing, and communication skills
- 📱 Think creatively about digital media and technology
- 💰 Explore concepts related to entrepreneurship and financial literacy
- 🤝 Navigate teamwork, project development, and problem-solving
- 🎤 Refine their final podcast, digital video, and project presentation
Why Become a Faculty Mentor?
This is an opportunity to engage with HCC students beyond the classroom while supporting experiential learning, interdisciplinary collaboration, entrepreneurship, and student innovation.
Faculty mentors will help students see that entrepreneurship is not limited to a business classroom—it intersects with technology, culture, creativity, communication, community, and nearly every academic discipline.
Most importantly, your mentorship can help students build confidence, discover new skills, connect their academic interests to real-world opportunities, and recognize themselves as creators, innovators, and future entrepreneurs.
And we will pay a stipend for your participation!
Join us as a Faculty Mentor and help HCC students tell Houston’s entrepreneurial stories while showing them what is possible for their own futures.