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At Tech Valley High School on the first day of school, students get a little lesson from business leaders.

"They get exposed to all these different things they never even thought of becoming interested in, it might give them ideas of what to do with their future as they get older,” said Genni Demarco, Optics Production Team Leader.

The idea is to get a perspective from the real world and what they need for the future

"The project based learning is so far, so good. I think it's going to teach us several skills we need to really be functional in the 21st century," freshman Marissa Larosa said.

Companies represented here include Empire State Development and Spiral Design. These freshmen can start young when it comes to learning about the workforce of tomorrow.

"The business partners have a way of making business tangible, for which I don't think many teenagers get that opportunity," said teacher April Nelson.

The commissioner of education was involved in something similar when he visited School 187 in Buffalo.

"Learning about their efforts to get students excited about science and advanced science courses, their partnership with UB around that," said New York State Education Commissioner John King.

Much like the partnership here. These days, many businesses require the understanding of science, technology, engineering and math. In addition to the importance of these subjects, there was another theme: Teamwork

Demarco said, "It's so important to learn how to interact with other people, learn how to contribute to a team affects those around you, how a team working can really propel things to success."

And since it is the first week of school after all, is there any advice for students?

Nelson said, "Do something every day that scares you and you're going to learn from it. Once they get outside their comfort zone and they're stretched, they really grow, that's where the growth is."

A business model for all.