Seeking Adobe Mentors to Guide Middle School Students Adjacent to Adobe in Lehi

Dear Important Peeps of Adobe, 

 I lead the Entrepreneurship and Innovation program at Ignite Entrepreneurship Academy, a public K-8 charter school dedicated to personalized, real-world learning experiences for young innovators, located in the heart of Silicon Slopes.I am reaching out to connect to professionals based out of the Lehi offices and interested in giving back to the local community.

Adobe’s mission resonates deeply with our own mission to empower students to think creatively, iterate always, build resilient ventures centered on design-thinking, and learn by doing. Our middle school students have recently launched their entrepreneurship capstone projects, with the objective of developing a product or business that solves a real problem or fills an authentic need. As part of our structured entrepreneurship process—including research, prototyping, and pitch preparation—we are seeking mentors whose work exemplifies innovation and design, particularly with expertise in the tech aspect.

I am writing to invite any Adobe professionals to consider serving as a mentor for one of our student ventures. Your industry knowledge, combined with your perspective on design thinking, product development, and navigating challenges from prototype to market, would be invaluable to their growth. Mentorship could take many forms; but ideally this might include a brief in-person visit (approximately 30 minutes, either at our school or perhaps onsite at Adobe, for example,) to work one-on-one with a student prior to prototyping. The possibility of one or two short follow-up conversations via phone or email as the project progresses would be a welcome bonus.

Additionally, we would be honored if this individual might also be willing to serve as a guest speaker for our Innovation and Entrepreneurship Series so that all of our students could benefit from that person’s story and expertise. The length and format would be entirely at your discretion, and topics could range from design conversations and iterative innovation to how Adobe forged its path from bold vision to global excellence. Any of these perspectives would be deeply inspiring for our young entrepreneurs and would meaningfully connect classroom learning to real-world application.

This April, students will participate in a formal pitch event hosted at the Silicon Slopes headquarters, followed by a community-facing showcase at the Traverse Outlets in May. In recognition of your time and generosity, we would be more than happy to acknowledge Adobe as a partner in learning, including your name in related publicity, and providing logo placement and brand visibility during these events and within other promotional materials.

We would be grateful for any time a member of your team might be willing to share— in person or even virtually—and we are happy to be flexible around your schedule and priorities.

Thank you for your consideration and for the innovation your work continues to bring to our community and beyond. Let's explore how we might work together to support the next generation of creators, designers, and problem-solvers.

Please contact me if interested, jbenson@igniteutah.org.