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Understanding the Past, Creating the Present, Imagining the Future
Understanding the Past, Creating the Present, Imagining the Future
Alejandro walked into my eighth-grade math class Monday morning with eyes gleaning and big smile on his face. He presented me with two checks, one for $450 and another for $610. My eyebrows perked up.
“Wow, Alejandro! This is amazing, tell me the story behind these fat checks!”
Alejandro told me that he spent the weekend striping two small parking lots. He convinced the owners of two small convenience stores to let him repaint the fading lines in their parking lots. It took him four hours to do one and about six hours to do another.
About a month ago, my eighth-grade students were asked to come up with a business they would like to do by themselves or with a partner, forming either a sole proprietorship or a limited liability partnership, respectively. They filled out all the paperwork, business plans, marketing strategies, and mission statements; they completed everything shy of submitting it to the State of California (due to their age).
Amongst the proposed businesses were striping parking lots, painting house numbers on curbs, designing bracelets, deejaying, and holiday card designs. For students whose parents didn’t feel comfortable with their child interacting with strangers, they formed supporting businesses such as web design, promotional products, and even an auditing business.
Every student created and managed a small academic enterprise for four months. They found their own clients, kept their own accounting, and reported each week on their progress through charts and presentations.
As a class, the students brought in a revenue of about $3,000. After paying for all costs of doing business, the eighth-grade class had a net income of around $1,500. We celebrated with a trip to Magic Mountain where we got to “experience” the different concepts in physics we covered all year long!
One of the unique aspects of Academy of the Renaissance will be our academic enterprises.
Starting as early as elementary school, students will learn to run small businesses such as a juice stand or a bakery stand. They’ll learn how to keep track of income and cost each week. Students will see their progress through simple charts and graphs. Foundational math skills, lessons on food and nutrition, and presentation skills will be integrated and applied to these endeavors.
In middle school, they will have an opportunity to work in teams and plan bigger academic enterprises. Students will work to create partnerships with existing successful businesses so that they will learn from industry masters. These “masters" will help to teach students what the industry standards are for doing business, such as customer service, quality of production, liability, and business ethics and integrity.
In high school, students will execute their proposed business plans with the help and financing of the school. Possible enterprises could be a restaurant, a coffee shop, a small gym, and even a recording studio!
Although running a successful business is the main goal of any business owner, students are expected to implement the concepts and ideas learned in their core classes to maximize their success. For example, how can students use the concepts of algebra, statistics, and even calculus, to help set prices and forecast business cycles? How can students use physical education to help minimize workplace injuries or maximize efficiency? How does history and English play a role in the development and marketing of a business?
Can students run these businesses into the ground? Yes! Could their business could be fined for improper food handling? Yes! Could there be injuries to clients? Yes!
These mistakes will be part of the learning experience. Ask any successful entrepreneur or business owner about mistakes and failures, and they will tell you that they are not only possible, but they are almost required in order to become successful.
School is a great place to learn from failure, and failure can be one of the best teachers in life!
Running academic enterprises will help students develop the skills necessary to be successful adults, such as teamwork, leadership, meeting standards and deadlines, and budgeting. The most important lesson we want our students to walk away with is how education is a vital part of personal and academic success.
