Every semester, my Entrepreneurship students amaze me. They run a small business to learn how to run a small business. They learn by doing. They learn in a hands-on environment. They learn that a business doesn’t always run smoothly. And, boy, did they learn that this semester!
The semester started off in the typical fashion. My students worked on their proposals to present to their peers for a “Shark Tank”-like competition. Eventually, they decided that they would pursue the proposal for selling custom Mansfield lanyards. They selected a vendor, designed the lanyards, and we ordered the lanyards. Not even a few days passed when I broke my ankle and was out of school for the remainder of the year. For the rest of the semester, I had to manage the project remotely. I communicated electronically with my students, spoke with my substitute teacher on nearly a daily basis, and a colleague who lives in the same town would bring product samples to me and leave them in my mailbox at home. It was definitely a plot twist that none of us had expected.
In the end, my students forged through and were able to make a $320 donation to the Shane Farrell Scholarship, in memory of their classmate. To say I’m proud of these students would be an understatement!
Read more here: MHS Entrepreneurs Make Donation to the Shane Farrell Scholarship
This was the most recent in a long line of similar projects. The impact of these projects has been a huge source of pride for me and my students. Here are the overall statistics of our impact: