Wednesday, April 3, 2002
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Wednesday, April 3, 2002 |
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New program promotes student entrepreneurship The entrepreneurial spirit is soaring high at Kedron Elementary. Third grade students at the school have been participating for the first in time in Mini-Society, a 10-week program that introduces children ages 8-12 to entrepreneurship as a real experience. Students look for opportunities inside and outside the classroom society and develop products or services to address those opportunities, creating their own businesses. Before students at Kedron began the entrepreneurial phase of the program, they first had to form their own society and get hired for jobs created within the community. The jobs not only supported the economic development of the newly formed society but also provided funding for students to start their own businesses. All third graders at the school voted on a community name, flag and currency. Kedron's community is the United Kingdom of Kedron and the currency is known as Kedron Bucks. After the society was formed, students in each class had to determine the different types of jobs that would be needed to help the classroom community run smoothly. Students had to come up with job descriptions and salaries and then fill out application forms and interview for the jobs they wanted. After students started working, they learned about tax deductions and how to keep ledgers of their income and expenses. "In my classroom every Thursday is payday. We have paymasters that tally up the total wages for each student they are responsible for paying. They deduct taxes to come up with the net pay, collect the Kedron Bucks from the class treasurer and distribute the money," says Connie Crawley Once students began earning an income, it was time for them to decide on a product or service to offer the community. They had to develop a prototype and conduct market research to determine the viability of their product and how much money consumers would be willing to pay for it. Each third grade teacher at the school was awarded a $100 grant from the Georgia Council on Economic Development for the purchase of supplies students would need to produce their products. Students in turn had to purchase the products they needed from their teacher using the Kedron Bucks they had earned through their community jobs. "Even if parents provided supplies the students still had to pay for them. Some students used their parents as consultants and paid them a fee for their services," says Crawley. Products that have been produced include bookmarks, CD holders, picture frames, sports and name necklaces, headband bandanas and stationary. One enterprising student developed an advertising agency and created a type of "yellow pages" promoting many of the goods produced for sale. The culminating activity of the program is the Mini-Society Market Day where students have the opportunity to sell their goods and services to other students as well as parents who have earned Kedron Bucks by selling supplies or services to their children. "We have talked a lot about product quality and pricing along the way. The children have learned many valuable lessons about economics and have enjoyed the program very much," says Crawley. Last year, several Fayette elementary schools started the program as a pilot. Over the summer, all third grade teachers received training in the Mini-Society program and were encouraged to implement it at their schools this year. Crawley says the teachers at her school have enjoyed teaching the program and have seen direct benefits to the students. Kedron plans to offer the program again next year.
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