Chapter guide

How to start a chapter at your school.

For student leaders, teachers, and school staff. Sip & Scale Jr. is new, so founding chapters will help shape this guide.

What every chapter needs

2
Student leaders
So no one runs the chapter alone.
1
School advisor
A teacher or approved school representative.
15
Active members
A smaller group is fine during the pilot.
6
Sessions a year
Weekly, monthly, or in short cycles.
1
Showcase a year
Students show what they made.

Launch in seven steps

Form a student team
Find at least two students to share the work. Decide who leads the school proposal and who plans the first activities.
Find a school advisor
Ask a teacher or staff member to be the school contact. Discuss how clubs get approved and what supervision the school expects.
Present the proposal
Meet the principal, activities office, or club coordinator. Agree on membership, a meeting room, recruitment, communication, and any budget or permissions.
Contact Sip & Scale
Share your school, student leads, advisor, and first-cycle plan. We confirm chapter approval, branding, and available support before you launch under the name.
Plan the first cycle
Choose a few sessions that fit the timetable. Give each session an owner. Confirm funding before you buy anything or promise guests or prizes.
Recruit members
Use school-approved announcements, posters, class visits, or an interest form. Explain what members will do. Welcome students who are still exploring.
Run the first meeting
Introduce the chapter, help members meet each other, collect their interests, and run one short activity. Set the next meeting and ask for feedback.

Who does what

Small chapters can combine roles. Keep at least two active leaders so one student does not carry the whole program.

Chapter roles

Chapter Lead: Coordinates the team and links the chapter to the advisor and Sip & Scale.
Programs: Plans sessions, prepares materials, and keeps the calendar.
Operations: Handles rooms, equipment, attendance, permissions, and logistics.
Marketing and Communications: Runs approved recruitment, announcements, and chapter content.
Community: Welcomes members, collects feedback, and helps students find collaborators.
Partnerships: Coordinates approved guests, mentors, judges, and local partners.
Projects Lead (optional): Helps teams set milestones and find feedback on their work.

Who is responsible for what

Student leaders
Plan and run the chapter: sessions, recruitment, and activities.
School advisor
Arranges supervision, reviews guests and outside groups, and escalates serious concerns.
Your school
Approves the chapter and keeps authority over rooms, guests, communications, and student safety.
Sip & Scale
Approves use of the chapter name, provides onboarding and activity guides, and connects chapters across the community.
Advisory Board
Advises the Sip & Scale Jr. team on curriculum, competitions, partnerships, and student opportunities. Advisors do not run chapters.

When leaders graduate

Keep plans, materials, contacts, and expenses in a shared place the school approves. Before leaders step down, introduce the next leaders to the advisor and the Sip & Scale contact.

A sample first term

Life in a chapter

Where interests become projects.

Explore and connect
Students discover an industry, meet classmates across grades, and hear from approved guests. No project is needed to start.
Build and challenge
Through activities like Idea Mix and Build Nights, students develop an app, business, research project, creative work, or community initiative, then test it with feedback.
Showcase and reflect
Students share a prototype, pitch, or experiment, explain their decisions, and improve their work. Competitions are optional. Progress counts more than results.

A sample only. Reorder, combine, or replace sessions. Eight meetings can run as a short cycle or across a full term.

Meeting 1
Welcome and interest mapping
Members meet and list their interests.
Meeting 2
Problems worth solving
Teams choose a problem to investigate.
Meeting 3
Idea Mix
Teams develop a first idea.
Meeting 4
Founder or alumni conversation
Members ask questions and pick a next step.
Meeting 5
Build Night
Teams make a draft, mock-up, or prototype.
Meeting 6
First Customer Challenge
Teams prepare a sales plan or budget.
Meeting 7
Stress-Test My Idea
Teams get feedback and choose changes.
Meeting 8
Student showcase
Members show their work and what they learned.

A 60-minute meeting

For a 75- or 90-minute meeting, add the extra time to the main activity and feedback. During exams, meet less often or pause.

5 min
Opening
Welcome members and state the goal.
10 min
Short introduction
Introduce one idea or example.
30 min
Main activity
Students create, investigate, or decide.
10 min
Share and feedback
Teams show their work and answer questions.
5 min
Next step
Agree on one action before the next meeting.

Activity bank

Starting points, not rules. Choose activities with your members and adapt them to your school. Spend most of each session on discussion, building, and feedback, not lectures.

Five kinds of session

Explore
Discover a field or ask someone about their work.
Build
Make and test something, alone or with a team.
Challenge
Make a decision and explain the reasoning.
Connect
Meet collaborators, peers, and mentors.
Showcase
Show progress and get feedback.

Activities to try

Idea Mix
Teams draw a random customer, problem, and constraint, then design an idea that fits. Change a constraint halfway to practise adapting.
Try it on the main page
First Customer Challenge
Teams plan a route to $100, or a local equivalent, in revenue. They name a customer, offer, price, sales channel, and first outreach step. Use pretend sales unless the school approves real ones.
Try it on the main page
Build Nights
Members work on projects they already care about. Each team sets a goal at the start, gets feedback from peers or mentors, and shares progress at the end.
Try it on the main page
Stress-Test My Idea
A team shares an idea. Others question whether the problem is real, users care, and the plan can work. The team says what feedback it accepts and how it would change.
Try it on the main page
Build for a Stranger
Teams get a fictional user, such as a student who loves gaming and struggles to study. They design a solution, separate facts from guesses, and plan how to test the guesses.
Founder’s Dilemma
Groups face a hard call, such as an inactive co-founder or a product that harms users. They choose, explain the trade-offs, and answer objections. More than one answer can be right.
Business Model Makeover
Teams take an existing business, nonprofit, or school initiative and improve its pricing, marketing, or operations. They explain the expected effect and propose a test.
Investor Speed Round
Teams pitch a quick solution to a problem. Other students split pretend investment funds using agreed criteria, then explain their choices.
Budget Challenge
Teams get a pretend budget for a club, event, or project. They set priorities, defend their costs, and adapt when the budget changes.
Silly Pitches
Students pitch deliberately strange ideas to practise improvising and presenting. Keep it low-pressure and the feedback kind.
Two-Meeting Startup
In meeting one, teams pick a problem and user and plan a test. By meeting two, they collect feedback or build a simple prototype, then explain what changed.
Fireside Chats
Invite an alum, founder, researcher, creator, or community leader. Collect questions in advance. Confirm the guest with your advisor before announcing the session.

Optional competition

Proposed format

The Stress-Test My Idea Challenge recognizes teams that define a problem, collect evidence from users, test a solution, and improve it after criticism. Schools can run it internally. Regional and global rounds start only when enough chapters can support them.

Teams of 2 to 5 high school students. Students do the core research, decisions, and presentation themselves, and disclose prior work, outside funding, and adult help.

Each presentation

5 minPresent
7 minQuestions from judges
3 minWhat the team would change

Judging criteria

Problem and user evidence20%
Quality and originality of the solution20%
Testing and progress20%
Feasibility and operating model15%
Response to criticism15%
Ethics, inclusion, and impact10%

Published before every round: Eligibility, judging criteria, scoring, and conflict-of-interest rules. Major finals have at least three qualified judges.
Possible awards: Champion, Strongest Customer Evidence, Best Prototype, Most Adaptable Team, Best Community Solution, Most Original Idea, and People’s Choice. Prizes are offered only after partners and funding are confirmed.

Safety and privacy

Approved channels: Share schedules and updates through a channel the school approves, such as school email or Google Classroom. Do not require a social media account to take part.
Consent before publishing: Follow school consent rules before sharing any student name, photo, or project.
Guests and visits: The advisor reviews every guest, off-campus activity, and supervision plan.
Only the data you need: Collect only the information needed to run the chapter.
Serious concerns: Report safety or conduct concerns through the school’s existing process.

End-of-cycle review

At the end of each cycle, review the cycle with members and the advisor. Then send a short summary to your Sip & Scale contact.

Attendance: Do students come back and take part?
Projects: Do students move from an idea to work they can show?
Feedback and testing: Do teams change their work after they hear from others?
Connections: Do students meet people who help them learn?
Member feedback: Which activities do members want to repeat or change?

Include the activities you ran, attendance, project progress, member feedback, expenses, and next steps. Do not collect extra personal data only to measure impact.

How it grows

One school first. Then a network.

Sip & Scale Jr. is new. We are opening founding chapters now. Each stage starts only when the chapters before it are ready.

Where it goes

We are here
Founding chapters
The first schools run a small first cycle and a school showcase. Their feedback shapes the activities and guides.
Next
City communities
Chapters in the same city share build days, mentors, and showcases.
Later
Regional rounds
School showcases become qualifiers for regional finals, judged against published criteria.
Later
A global network
Chapters across countries meet at global finals, with pathways into university programs, fellowships, and research.

Questions

Questions we hear most.

Still have a question?Ask the team

Is Sip & Scale Jr. new?

Yes. We are opening founding chapters now. Founding chapters help shape the activities, guides, and standards that later chapters use.

How much does it cost?

Nothing. Sip & Scale Jr. is free for students and schools. If an activity needs materials, the chapter confirms funding with the school before buying anything.

Who can join?

Any high school student who meets your school’s rules for clubs. Students do not need a project, or any business, coding, or leadership experience.

How much time does it take?

A chapter runs at least six sessions a year. Most meetings are about 60 minutes. Chapters choose weekly, every two weeks, monthly, or short cycles, and can pause during exams.

What if fewer than 15 students are interested?

Start anyway. During the pilot, a smaller group that suits your school is fine. Keep the first cycle small enough to run well.

What if we do not have a teacher advisor yet?

A chapter needs a teacher or an approved school representative before it launches. Start by asking a teacher you know. The chapter guide explains what an advisor does.

Can we use the Sip & Scale Jr. name right away?

Not yet. Contact our team first. We confirm chapter approval, branding, and the support available before you launch under the name.

Is it only about business?

No. Students build apps, businesses, research, creative work, school improvements, and community projects. Nonprofit and social projects count too.

Do students have to compete?

No. Competitions are optional. A school showcase can serve as a qualifier. Regional and global rounds start only when enough chapters can support them.

How do you keep students safe?

The school keeps authority over rooms, guests, communications, and student safety. The advisor reviews every guest and off-campus activity. Chapters collect only the information they need and follow school consent rules before sharing names or photos.

What happens when student leaders graduate?

Leaders keep plans and materials in a shared place the school approves. Before they step down, they introduce the next leaders to the advisor and our team.

What does Sip & Scale provide?

Onboarding, activity guides, branding guidance, and connections across the Sip & Scale community. Mentors, partner benefits, cross-school events, and competitions depend on availability and school approval.

Ready to start a chapter?

Tell us about your school. We reply by email to discuss approval and a first cycle.

Talk to the Sip & Scale Jr. team