What’s it like to let your creative juices flow, start your own business and become an entrepreneur?
Jackie Wiscombe’s fifth grade class at Clear Lake Elementary got to find out.
Oxford High School students Grace Cleland, Jade Schramm and Christina Medici from the DECA program spent a few weeks teaching the students about how to become entrepreneurs
‘First, we taught them the basics of entrepreneurship and we did lots of lessons with them and gave them examples of people who were entrepreneurs,? Cleland explained.
Some of the entrepreneurs included Opera Winfrey and Jennifer Lopez.
‘Each activity would build up little steps into making their own business,? added Cleland.
As a final project, the fifth graders created their own business, (either solo or in partnership with other classmates) and role played as the owner. Other fifth-grade classes, role played as buyers and bought stocks in the businesses that they thought were worth the investment.
‘Working with the kids was really fun. You got to see their expressions and how excited they got doing this stuff,? Schramm said. ‘I thought that was pretty cool, being able to (do their) own thing and plan it by (themselves).?
‘Now, they know for their future, if they ever want to become an entrepreneur, (how to) start their own business or make their own product,? Medici added. ‘They now know the steps.?
Fifth-grade businesses
In the world sports Dane Knop and Brady Lindamood came up with Boccer, a cross-mix of the two sports.
‘Boccer is where you can play both soccer and basketball,? explained Knop. ‘So, if you and your friends both want to play different games, you can play it.?
‘Our employees are (basketball players) LeBron James, Michael Jordan (and) Nate Robinson (along with soccer players) Lukas Podolski and Theo Walcott,? Lindamood said.
They even created the NBL (National Boccer League) where the best players compete against one another and there is a playoff system.
‘If you win the final (game), you win money,? Knop added.
So how did they come up with their idea for Boccer? Knop wanted to do a project on basketball and Lindamood wanted to do soccer, so they compromised.
Knop liked how they both worked together on the project.
‘If he had an idea and I had a different idea, he could do some part of his idea and some part of my idea,? he said. ‘We basically could use both ideas combined.?
Lindamood also enjoyed the project.
‘I liked that we got to work together and we got to put a lot of work into doing it. It’s different than most projects (we do in school) because we actually get to do something with it,? he said. ‘It’s more fun and we actually get a prize from it. I liked working hard.?
For education, Allison Mooney and Mya Spisz created the K-12 Harbor County School.
‘This school helps kids that are behind in school. We help kids with anything they need. We go very slow for them if they need it, but as we go, we always speed up as the kid (improves),? Mooney explained. ?(At) our school, we invite kids that are not behind (academically) and help the kids (that are behind) and the teacher.?
‘As we grow up, we want to be teachers, so we thought of this for our project,? Spisz said. ‘We liked doing our business cards and setting all of this up.?
If you got a broken bone, you might want to find your way over to the MSK Ortho Clinic, where Samarra Marvin, Kristina Myers and Maya Roper will fix you up.
‘If you ever need surgery come to MSK Orthopedic Clinic, we give therapy for everyone. You can get a prescription here, too,? Marvin said. ‘If you think you have a broken bone, you can get them checked here, we are open 24/7.?
So what made these young ladies choose an orthopedic clinic?
‘I just have an interest in doctors and (medicine), so I knew I wanted to do this,? explained Roper.
‘My brother talks about bones and stuff, so I kind of know a lot about bones. He can actually fix you, according to Myers.
Marvin just wanted to be in business with her friends.
‘They’re my friends and friends stick with each other. That’s just what friends do. I found this one as a cool business to do and said ‘Yeah, I want to do this. This will be fun,?? she said. ‘If we actually did it later (in life), that would be even cooler.?
While some stuck to the basics like sports, education and medicine, others took a more unique route. Like Kane Cook and Jose Alvarado, for example. They couldn’t agree on a project until late in the game and decided to sell superpowers. That’s right, for only $10 you can have your own superpower.
‘You can have four or you can make up your own,? Cook said. ‘The four you can have are invisibility, super speed, teleportation, and you can fly.?
While neither Cook nor Alvarado is really into superheroes, Cook said they also can use the superpower technology to help the military.
‘If (soldiers) are wounded, we can help them get on their feet again . . . by injecting them with the superpower formula,? he added.
As far as the overall project, both Cook and Alvarado said they liked the creativity it involved.
‘I liked working the poster board and the (company) slogan,? Alvarado said.
Need for entrepreneurship education
Wiscombe said her students were ‘very excited? when the girls would come in on a daily basis to teach.
‘They learned quite a bit because (entrepreneurship) is not something we necessarily always cover. It made them start thinking about what they may want to do in the future,? Wiscombe said. ‘Many of the kids came up with some pretty ingenious ideas that, I think, tweaked a little bit could definitely become a business in the future.?
The younger students weren’t the only ones who enjoyed leaning about how to become entrepreneurs.
Cleland said they learned a lot, too. ‘It’s not a subcategory of anything that’s taught because we don’t have business classes in elementary school and barely in high school, either,? she said.
All three teens agreed they wish there would be more classes to teach entrepreneurship from elementary school all the way through high school.
‘With their young minds, they’re so creative, Schramm said.
‘Our future would be so much better with these new ideas they have,? Cleland added.
Medici said this experience wasn’t just another project to them. It meant something more. ‘We just enjoyed it,? she said. ‘We were glad to have this opportunity and glad we were able to teach others about entrepreneurship.?