Tajay Amey has been interested in developing his own business for as long as he can remember.

“I’ve always wanted to go into business; I want to be in sales or something like that. I think I’d like to own my own car dealership one day,” said Amay, who has been part of a program offered by the Temple University Real Estate Institute since September. “Learning from real estate professionals has been eye-opening. It’s given me real insight into how the industry works and taught me the value of networking, planning and smart investing. It has benefited me by showing me how I can apply those same business strategies to my own goals.”

That would be excellent feedback from any Real Estate Institute student. Amey, however, happens to be a tenth grader at West Philadelphia High School, part of an ongoing partnership between the high school and Temple to provide students with a solid foundation in real estate prior to graduation.

“In the summer of 2023, the School District of Philadelphia awarded the Real Estate Institute a grant to deliver real estate education to high school students at West Philadelphia High School. We started out initially in the winter of 2024 with delivering introductory coursework to high school freshmen,” said Tim Galbraith, Director of the Real Estate Institute. “This is a scaffolding program that we are developing for each year that they are in high school. Right now, we have freshman and sophomore students involved; next year, the sophomores who have chosen the real estate track will continue their real estate education as juniors.”

According to Galbraith, students that continue with the program into their senior year will take pre-licensure coursework to obtain their real estate license, “which are courses we offer here at the Institute on a regular basis.” Located at Temple University Center City (TUCC), the Real Estate Institute has been preparing Realtors® and brokers from all backgrounds to succeed in the industry for 50 years.

“The goal of this project is for students to graduate high school ready to immediately enter the workforce with everything professionally that they need. In this particular case, they should graduate having fulfilled the hours that they need to take the real estate licensure exam. Once they pass, they can effectively enter the workforce through the real estate industry,” he said. “We work from a lesson plan developed by the students’ teacher Dr. Lynekka Clark at West Philadelphia High School. Our real estate instructors — Mike Coleman and Rob Luciani — come to classroom to accompany these lessons, adding additional insight from their personal and professional experience.”

According to Dr. Reuben Mills, Assistant Principal at West Philadelphia High School, the Real Estate program is now part of the students’ curriculum during the school year. In 2022, Philadelphia Superintendent Dr. Tony Watlington Sr. developed an initiative — 21st Century Learning — at four district high schools, including West Philadelphia, designed to “support and educate young people as they matriculate through high school to prepare them for the world of work and post-secondary education centered on distinct themes or pathways such as Real Estate, Personal Finance and Entrepreneurship,” Mills said.

“By the time a student in the program graduates, they should have the skills necessary enroll in Temple University to become real estate agents or follow any of the pathways leading to a career in real estate,” he said. “Thet could be house flipping or managing a real estate company. It could be overseeing marketing aspects related to real estate or having their own LLC (Limited Liability Company) so that they can become owners of whatever they decide to do in the real estate field.”

When students are in ninth grade at West Philadelphia High School, “they are dispersed into what we call academic pathways,” Mills said.

“Each pathway is scheduled for eight weeks so by the end of their ninth-grade year, they will have gotten an introductory dose to each of the pathways available to them. As they enter tenth grade, they can decide which of the four major pathways they would like to pursue,” he said. “The students that select real estate will build on what they learned in the eight-week program. In eleventh grade, they are really steeped in the content and in twelfth grade they can become involved in work-based learning or dual enrollment programs specifically centered around real estate.”

Tenth grade student Chihab Abogourin said he chose the real estate pathway “because life is dependent on houses — everyone needs a place to live.”

“Growing up, I’ve moved into several different houses. People will always need houses, so I thought it was a good business decision,” he said. “I thought about COVID when businesses were shutting down, real estate was still there because it is a basic need. Learning directly from real estate professionals has been great so far — I have built connections and knowledge about (the real estate field) and I feel that after high school I know where to go in order to expand my business.”

Mike Coleman, one of the Real Estate Institute’s instructors in the program, said he believed the program at West Philadelphia High School would be a success after just the first few classes thanks to the attitude and dedication of the students and teachers involved.

“(Lynekka) Clark’s story is amazing — she retired at 35 after being extremely successful in the field, but she is there for the kids every day teaching full-time. It’s inspiring and it drew me in,” said Coleman, CEO of The Mike Coleman Team of Keller Williams Devon-Wayne, who has been in the real estate industry for 16 years after a career in social work. “The students are fun, they are engaged, and they are energetic. They are the most respectful group of teenagers I’ve ever met so once you start working with them, you can’t stop.”

The students under the guidance of Clark, Coleman said, are working on developing their own individualized business plans, complete with brand logos and website designs.

“I’m helping to review the plans — one of them has a website nicer than most professional companies. Whatever real estate topic they are working on in class, I provide some real-world insight and examples that we can talk about — the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, what it’s like to be a business owner,” he said. “I think what we are ultimately trying to do is open students’ eyes to new paths forward and helping to give them the tools to get there. We want them to know that whatever they decide to do, whatever their passion is, if they work hard enough at it, they can use that to get themselves to where they want to be.”

According to tenth grader Abdul Wilder, his top takeaways from the programs so far have been developing “structure and discipline.”

“It’s broadened my vision. Through projects like building the business plan, I’ve learned how to become more disciplined, and I know that hard work and determination equals success,” he said. “I would recommend the program to other students because if you want to be financially successful in life I think the is the perfect route.” 

Coleman said the response from the students overall has been excellent.

“Their energy is awesome. They are curious and they ask questions — they are communicating with me even when they’re not in class,” he said. “They came out and shadowed my class at Temple and we had a bunch of guest speakers come in that day — during a break all of the students were up there getting everyone’s business cards and following up with them afterward. They understand the opportunity and they understand that if they keep doing the work, meeting people and making connections, they have a really good shot at success.”

According to Mills, the real estate program is also helping students build important connections with their community.

“The benefits are truly multifaceted and multilayered — they gain an understanding of the nuances of all of the gentrification that's happening in their West Philadelphia community. They learn about real estate laws and real estate policies and are interacting with city council members and elected officials to advocate for housing for people who live in the West Philadelphia area,” he said. “They learn how to begin to invest in their personal real estate at an early age, about buying their own property as an opportunity for generational wealth for them and their families, and they learn how to invest in real estate within their specific communities.”

The experience, Mills said, “becomes something of a personal interest for the students.”

“Ultimately it's a way for them to enhance and share their knowledge. In April, our students were participants in a Young Entrepreneur’s Academy in Devon, Pennsylvania, where they had the opportunity to present to other high school students across the state about the nuances that they've learned about the real estate industry to encourage other young people how to invest and learn more about real estate.,” he said. “They learn more about their specific community and how they can invest or reinvest through real estate in their communities and neighborhoods.”

According to Galbraith, the educational partnership that the Real Estate Institute has developed with West Philadelphia High School is being used as a model to potentially expand the program to other schools around Philadelphia and beyond.

“This is the foundational program and it’s something that other schools have certainly expressed interest in developing further. For the students in this program, they are going into college or moving into the working world with a solid foundation,” he said. “With REI we want to provide access to our coursework through exploratory educational initiatives like this. Our hope is that when these student graduate, they feel well prepared to enter the workforce or the next step in their education — the professional skills that they are learning are a solid basis for success in almost any field.”

For more information about the Real Estate Institute, visit here.