Nineteen years ago, business teacher Eric Sera was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a rare cancer.

“50 years ago, the diagnosis that I got 19 years ago would have been a sure death sentence,” Sera said.

But because of innovations made by the Robert H. Lury Cancer Center, Sera is able to continue his life normally.

“So I definitely have a personal stake in the importance of innovation. It literally saved my life and the lives of others,” Sera said.

As a result of his battles with cancer, Sera wanted to show his students that their inventions could have the power to improve the lives of countless other people.

“I work to spark students to have that type of societal impact, not just to make money, but to be the agents of positive change in the world,” Sera said. “I made the transition to teaching because I want to help the youth not only succeed in business, but to show them how business, innovation, and imagination could be used in an ethical way. Not just to make money, but it could be used to improve their lives and lives of communities.

Because of this, Sera started the Blue Ocean Strategy at Munster High School as an unofficial club. Founded by Professors W. Chan Kim and Renee Marbon at NCA, the Blue Ocean Strategy is a strategy to be a successful entrepreneur.

“The Blue Ocean Strategy is a framework to look at markets that are filled with competition, and try to create a new market that has no competition,” Senior and Blue Ocean strategy participant Brandon Walker said.

While the Blue Ocean Strategy has been around for many years, Munster joined in 2024, when some of Sera’s business students had an idea for a product.

“I had a group of high flying students…They had an idea for this product called Estro. It was a women’s undergarment like Brazier that detected women’s health issues. I thought this was a great idea. We need to find a good competition for them to enter with this. And I came across the Blue Ocean strategy,” Sera said.

Since Munster joined The Blue Ocean Strategy, success has been found among many of the students. Seniors Kaylee Williams and Olivia Martin placed in the top 500 for their business idea, Archer, and they plan to pursue their business after high school.

“We made Archer, which is a new way to sell art, like a new art selling website. to combat AI art and reselling of other people’s art,” Williams said. “We were even considering like, hey, if this goes well, I mean someday, what if we want to actually be entrepreneurs and see where that leads?”