From Middle School Curiosity to Market Success: Shore Alum Inspires Future Innovators

Last year, Shore alum Nathaniel Herring ’11 came back to campus as an Upper School meeting speaker, talking with students about his path toward founding his company ANCORE. This visit planted the seed for an opportunity for Herring and co-founder Isaac Lewis to welcome Shore seventh graders for a field trip to ANCORE’s headquarters in Salem, MA. 

 

ANCORE manufactures space-saving, portable fitness cable equipment. The company was founded in 2019 after Herring and Lewis, both having sustained major shoulder dislocations while playing sports, worked together during their Master of Science in Management in Entrepreneurial Leadership program at Babson College. What began as a classroom project grew into a venture housed in the Herring family’s garage, and is now a thriving company that enables athletes to train from anywhere. ANCORE is used in homes, gyms, and by coaches and athletes across the MLB, NHL, NFL, NBA, UFC, and PGA.

 

Seventh grade students, accompanied by Head of Upper School and Director of Secondary School Counseling Oliver Hay, Director of Athletics Nancy McNall, and Upper School Innovation Specialist Cam McNall, spent the morning touring the facility and trying out the equipment, learning and asking questions about prototypes, manufacturing, starting a business, patents, and more. They heard stories from the company’s early days including how the Covid pandemic ended up helping the company grow, and the benefits of fitness equipment that is entirely mechanical with no batteries or charging cords required. The students enthusiastically shared their observations from handling and testing the equipment, noting how simple it was to figure out how to use the cables and adjust the resistance. 

 

In the laboratory, students got to see the same 3D printers they work with in Shore’s ILab at work in a professional setting, alongside precise measurement devices and robotic testers, which they learned pull the cables over a million times, carefully collecting data and testing the equipment’s durability — a major improvement from the days when Herring and Lewis were testing themselves and “pulling until our arms fell off.” Students were amazed to learn how long it might take from developing a prototype to arriving at a final, patented product and getting it into production — this process can take two years or more. 

 

In the fabrication and manufacturing areas, students saw employees assembling equipment and learned about the distribution process, seeing firsthand what the ANCORE packaging looks like as boxes are being prepared for shipment around the world, and hearing why it’s important for the product to look great and be Instagram-ready. 

 

Students learned how Herring and Lewis tackled different challenges at different times of the company’s development, from equipment breaking or snapping, to considering how to make their products more affordable. "Grade 7 students had a tremendous time at ANCORE using the equipment, speaking with Nathaniel and Isaac, and learning about and seeing many of the steps involved in turning an idea into a reliable product that people want to use. It is wonderful to see all that Nathaniel has accomplished and how he has turned an idea into a successful business,” shared Head of Upper School and Director of Secondary School Counseling Oliver Hay. In expressing his appreciation for Shore’s visit, Herring said, “It was very special to see a young group of students so enthusiastic about the projects we have here.”

 

"Hearing Nathaniel describe how his interest in working with his hands developed during his years in Shore's Upper School and set him on his path to study Mechanical Engineering in college and to start his business displays the importance of middle school-aged students having opportunities to try new things and discover and explore their passions,” shared Hay.

 

Herring and Lewis left the students thinking about their own interests, asking “What do you love to do the moment that school is out? Sports? Podcasts? Reading? Video Games? Art? You can find ways to learn more about that thing and explore it. Ask yourself, ‘What am I curious about?’ It won’t feel like work, and there is so much opportunity for you when you are curious.”