REAL Enterprises (Rural Entrepreneurship through Action Learning) brings classes in "school-based enterprise" to rural high schools in North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Washington State. Jonathan Sher, the founder of REAL Enterprises, believes that children learn better by doing, and that successful rural economic development requires an investment in local entrepreneurs. A REAL Enterprises class creates a new business in the community and prepares students to become job creators in the future. Businesses created over the past 10 years by REAL Enterprises classes include a child care center, a feeder pig operation, a graphic design business, an ice cream shop, and a shoe repair shop. Students develop a foundation in understanding how to start a business, which may lead to more students staying in a rural community and creating their own businesses. Similar entrepreneurship projects are being implemented in Alabama to help avoid school consolidation. Strategies linking rural education and economic development are also needed in the Great Plains states. The shoe repair business was an outgrowth of the school-based enterprise class at South Carolina's Battery Creek High School. Eight students worked on the business plan, conducted market research, consulted community business leaders, learned about the business, and raised money to begin it. At the end of the school year, three students stayed on as owners. (KS)