Seniors in Lurline Choy’s Econ and Entrepreneurship class created business plans for hypothetical companies by first pitching possible business ideas in groups of four and deciding on one idea per group.
“Most high school students do not have the opportunity to explore the aspects of creating a business,” Choy said. “Whether a student decides to go into a business career or not, the business project helps the students to become more organized and together with a team. The business project incorporates 21st century skills by having the students learn how to organize as a team.”
Students worked through multiple edits of executive summaries, documents that summarize the potential business for others who want to have more information about the business. They also calculated finances and considered the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities of their companies and threats to them.
“This project taught me that there is a lot of planning involved when it comes to creating a company,” Lea Kitamura said. “Creating a business is research-intensive, and I wasn’t expecting for that to be as prominent in the planning itself.”
“It’s time-consuming,” Olivia Ragsac said. “The financial sheets and expense sheets required a lot of research for the product or supplies we are purchasing, rent for office space, different bank loans and other things.”
From the beginning of the year, students created the different portions of the business plan, and at the end of April they combined all of the portions into one cohesive plan. Along with the written portion of the plan, students also had to be creative and design logos for the company, create business cards and 30-second radio commercial spots that advertise their company.
“Coming up with an idea of the business was my favorite part of the project,” Jayna Jerimiah-Clarke said. “It was great to come up with an idea and then have to build that idea into something that was acceptable to submit as a plan.”
“Working with my business partners was my favorite part of the project,” said Jordyn Waracka. “It was not difficult to work together and our business came together smoothly.”
The business projects then went to an attorney and personal banker friends of Choy’s who will read them, provide criticism and pick one or two companies that could possibly form an actual business. Those companies will “win” the project and be exempt from the Econ and Entrepreneurship final exam.
“One skill that I learned from the project was communication,” Ragsac said. “Discussing ideas with others is key to have a successful business project.”
