The course
CEDE offers a college level entrepreneurship course curriculum to schools. The CEDE course curriculum teaches students about entrepreneurship and business through the lens of Catholic Social Teaching – highlighting the dignity of work and the power of business to be a force for good in the world.
Entrepreneurs don’t fit an exact mold. That’s why this course has a modular design. It’s not meant to fit into one particular time schedule or one classroom setting. Whatever your school’s goals and constraints, this flexible, simple format can be adapted to a diverse set of needs and teaching styles. CEDE can be taught as either a 1 semester or full year class. Two of the most popular ways schools implement the CEDE course is either as a business elective or theology class. Many schools have found CEDE pivotal in supporting student service projects and peer ministry programs.
Interactive and experiential
Highly teachable
All resources and activities included
Catholic
Vocation Centered
The CEDE program is ultimately about helping each and every student discover, embrace, and live out their unique, personal vocation in life. Whether that involves going to the college of their dreams or pursuing another path after graduation, the CEDE program is designed to aid them in their discernment.
Teaching Excellence
The CEDE Program is a collaboration between successful entrepreneurs, Catholic University of America’s professors, and the highest quality teachers in the country who are carefully selected based on three criteria: 1) The ability to inspire 2) A focus on integral human development 3) Recognized teaching excellence.
Experiential Learning
Every module in the CEDE program involves a project that helps students live out the principles of the course. From writing their own personal rules for life to analyzing the business model of local companies, students learn through hands-on, personal involvement.
University-Supported
Schools participating in the CEDE program get access to the full resources of The Catholic University of America in implementing the course. We support teachers and schools in adapting this course to their particular classes and students. Students taking the CEDE course at partnered schools will earn 3 college credits at the Catholic University of America at a discounted rate of $150.
Modules
The basic course is made up of 12 foundational modules, with supplemental modules being created continuously. Each module is built around its own project, most of which are building blocks for the two capstone deliverables of the Moral Compass Paper and the Odyssey Project.
A module represents one major theme and one major project, supplemented by in-class discussions, resources (articles and videos), and immersive entrepreneurial activities.
Each module contains a student prompt, a project, and blocks of class activities and discussions. Blocks are either essential or supplemental in order to help teachers adapt each module.
Download a module summary
Want to explore more? Download a module summary to explore the activities, course content, and teachability of the CEDE Program.
Phase I: Discern
Students are given foundational skills to know self and others, to see opportunities for creating value by serving others, and to know which opportunities to pursue.
- Vocational discernment
- Introduction to entrepreneurship
- Self-awareness
- Creating value for others
Phase II: Create
The word was made flesh and continues to be made flesh. Students learn what it means to be co-creators with an incarnational spirit.
- Design thinking
- Business modeling
- Co-creation
- The meaning of work
Phase III: Grow
Entrepreneurs play a key role in the development of culture. Students learn how to scale their creations to create more value for more people.
- Creating an Odyssey Project plan
- Creating a Moral Compass
- Catholic social teaching
- Spiritual discernment
Beyond CEDE
The ACU
The Agrupacian Catolica Universitaria (ACU) is a founding partner of the CEDE program, a key advisor and collaborator, and offers formational opportunities for young men involved in the CEDE Program. The ACU is a Marian congregation whose spirituality is based on Jesuit formational principles, and a strong concentration in Marian reflection.
Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship
The Ciocca Center, a core partner for CEDE, aims to promote a new kind of entrepreneur: one who integrates personal virtue and business principles in the service of individuals and communities.