Beginning this school year the entrepreneurship program, established and taught by Wendy Thomson, teaches students how to research, develop, and market products, with the goal of each student launching their own product for sale. This year, their first big project is opening a school store.
Students in the Entrepreneurship 1 class are currently in the research and planning phase of the development of a school store. The store is set to open next fall, in part to align with the football season. It will be available both on campus and at stadiums during sports games.
“Our lesson today was on market research to do the feasibility,” Thomson said. “How much money are we missing out on because we don’t have a school store, and then what products would be key products.”
The class is studying the success of stores at different schools, as well as trying to meet the demands of students. Things like school supplies, mechanical pencils, and spirit wear will all be considered for the product pool.
“If you want to buy a hoodie or a sweatshirt or a shirt, there’s no place to do it here,” Thomson said. “We would like it to be mobile so that it could be in the courtyard during the week and then could go to Burger Stadium.”
The entrepreneurship class will work with other programs to source some of the products being sold. Senior Julian Whitby intends to stay behind the scenes on logistics like the sales pitch, and not be one of the students staffing the store.
“I think we’re gonna be collaborating with other classes like graphic design to come up with products ourselves,” Whitby said. “[The profits] will probably go back into our program, our spirit wear, and making more products.”
Working on the school store prepares each entrepreneur to create their own products in the future by providing experience in gathering and analyzing data, producing products, and marketing for maximum sales. Senior Patrick Thomas joined entrepreneurship after taking money matters.
“I’m taking entrepreneurship because I want to start my own business when I get older,” Thomas said. “This is a good baseline, and learning the fundamentals now is a great way to start off.”
(Alec Morse)
