Hyde School has launched a new initiative that takes its innovative, character-based curriculum beyond campus and into the heart of the local community. Partnering with Union & Co—Bath’s coworking hub for entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small businesses—Hyde is providing students with hands-on exposure to the realities of entrepreneurship, community development, and ethical leadership.

This collaboration is an extension of Hyde’s “Inner Leadership” approach, which places character, self-awareness, and human-centered problem solving at the center of its academic offerings. In an era where artificial intelligence and automation are reshaping the workforce, Hyde believes the true differentiators for tomorrow’s leaders will be integrity, empathy, and the ability to connect with real people solving real problems.

“Our goal isn’t just to prepare students for the future,” said Shaw Bridges, faculty lead for the program. “It’s to help them shape it—with courage, curiosity, and conscience.”

Through Hyde’s mentorship-based entrepreneurship program and its connection to the University of Delaware’s Horn School of Entrepreneurship’s EntreX (short for entrepreneurial experience) Lab, students are introduced to local innovators and small business owners. These mentors will challenge them to think critically, listen to community needs, and test ideas through evidence and collaboration—not just theory. The partnership with Union & Co provides a physical space where Hyde students can learn these lessons beyond the gates. The EntreX students recently met with Bath-based developers Sean Ireland and Mandy Reynolds to explore how ideas become viable ventures by gathering feedback and building trust with the community.

This academic year marks the formal launch of an Entrepreneurship Mentorship Network that connects students with local founders, designers, real estate developers, and Hyde alumni working in creative industries. The program challenges the myth that entrepreneurship is exclusive to major metropolitan hubs—showing instead that innovation thrives in small cities and towns when people take risks, seek feedback, and stay rooted in their values.

“Getting students off campus and into environments where people are taking real risks and solving real problems changes everything,” Bridges said. “They’re not just learning about entrepreneurship—they’re experiencing it.”

From engaging in a “design sprint” to iterate solutions to youth vaping in collaboration with the American Lung Association to present venture ideas shaped by feedback from working professionals in Bath, Portland, and beyond, Hyde students are engaging with the world beyond the classroom in meaningful ways.

Hyde’s partnership with Union & Co is more than an excursion—it’s a bridge between education and community, character and innovation, and the next generation of leaders and the places they call home