Starting a Business the SAGE Way Teens in the student entrepreneurship program are changing the world, not to mention making their own worlds a lot nicer.

Imagine reducing high school truancy rates, helpingdisadvantaged workers file tax returns or setting up a freeenterprise program for students in Mexico. Nidya Baez did all thosethings--all before graduating from high school. Baez, 17, graduatedin May from Fremont High in Oakland, California, where she andabout 60 other Fremont students participated in SAGE (Students forthe Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship).

SAGE is an international program that teaches secondary schoolstudents how to start and manage a business while maximizingenvironmental sensitivity and civic responsibility--at leastthat's the formal definition. An enthusiastic Baez quicklygives her version: "SAGE is for students who want to changethe world one project at a time--we have a vision of the world andwant to make it better."

One of the Fremont group's greatest successes was thecreation of a food cart on their high school campus. "Wenoticed a lot of kids were leaving campus to go out for lunch, andthey weren't coming back," says Baez. To counteract thetruancy problem, Baez and SAGE teammates partnered with localrestaurants to resell items like burritos and barbecue sandwichesfrom a campus food cart. The project won Fremont High top honors inCalifornia's 2002 SAGE regional competition while also meetingtheir goal. "Truancy rates fell from about 70 percent to about40 percent," says Baez, "and we made about $2000 inprofit."