Northern Recharge 2026: Empowering Afterschool Professionals Through ESTEAM & Mindset Workshops

VentureLab Leads ESTEAM® Design Challenge Workshop and Mindset Workshop at Northern Recharge

Every year, the Utah Afterschool Network hosts Northern Recharge — a one-day professional development experience designed to equip afterschool professionals with practical strategies, ready-to-use activities, and a strong network of support. This year, VentureLab was honored to contribute by leading two interactive sessions focused on cultivating entrepreneurial mindsets in youth and the educators who serve them.

Fun & Purpose: ESTEAM^® Design Challenges to Engage Your Students

In the first session, VentureLab Program Coordinator Lindly Fernandez invited participants to a hands-on ESTEAM^® challenge with a focus on youth mental health.

Using the Design Thinking Process, participants opened their prototyping bags and took a student perspective to develop creative ways to support youth dealing with mental health challenges. With an entrepreneurial lens, they practiced empathy, defined real problems youth are facing, and brainstormed creative, actionable solutions — building not only ideas, but confidence and connection along the way.

Participants fully embraced the challenge with creative innovations like:

This session demonstrated how social-emotional learning (SEL) and entrepreneurship naturally complement each other. Through ESTEAM^®, youth are able to design solutions to real world problems in fun, interactive ways that build creativity and confidence. 

That’s the heart of VentureLab’s approach: entrepreneurship isn’t about starting a business — it’s about developing agency and empowering young people to shape their world.

Refresh Your Mindset: Optimism & Growth to Innovate and Spark Change

As the day came to a close, participants turned their attention inward.

In “Refresh Your Mindset: Optimism & Growth,” educators took part in a module from VentureLab’s Mindset for Educators professional development course. This session created space for something often overlooked in youth-serving spaces: educator wellbeing.

Participants identified personal and professional challenges they were currently navigating. Then, using practical mindset tools — including:

• The Power of Yet
• Visualization
• Strengths Identification

They worked both individually and collaboratively to reframe obstacles and reimagine what could be possible.

Many attendees shared that they chose this session because they realized they had been pouring so much energy into their work that they were neglecting their own needs. The session became an opportunity to pause, reconnect with personal interests, and remember a powerful truth:

To support youth growth, we must also nurture our own.

When educators practice optimism, persistence, and growth mindset in their own lives, they create environments where young people can do the same.

Building Capacity for Impact

Northern Recharge is about more than inspiration — it’s about leaving with tools you can use immediately. Through both sessions, educators walked away with:

• Ready-to-implement ESTEAM^® design challenges
• Strategies to integrate SEL and entrepreneurial mindsets
• Practical mindset tools to support their own resilience
• A renewed sense of purpose and possibility

At VentureLab, we believe entrepreneurship education is a pathway to equitable participation in shaping the future. When afterschool professionals are equipped with hands-on strategies and empowered mindsets, they create spaces where every young person—especially girls and historically marginalized youth—can see themselves as capable problem-solvers, innovators, and leaders.

And that’s how we spark change — one educator, one mindset, one creative solution at a time.

Interested in bringing VentureLab professional development to your program? Explore our ready-to-use ESTEAM^® Design Challenges or connect with our team to learn how we can participate with your staff in the Mindsets for Educator PD Course.