STERLING – Local businesses might be classrooms for high school students by the fall of 2013.

A program that gives high school students the opportunity to visit businesses and the tools to create their own businesses might come to Sterling – but local companies must be willing to invest first.

Craig Lindvahl, executive director of Midland Institute for Entrepreneurship, told local educators and business people Tuesday that Sterling was among six communities to which the Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities, or CEO, program soon might be offered. If local schools apply in time and if enough businesses invest, the program might be implemented in Sterling as soon as the fall of 2013, he said.