Gr. 6 Entrepreneur Project!
Over the past month, the Grade 6 students worked on something a little more ambitious and meaningful than the typical school project. Their first step was to come up with a product that they believed would appeal to their fellow students (which was the easy, creative part)! The more difficult steps followed: 1) Figuring out how to make the product, 2) Discovering how to mass produce their idea (or at least make several of them to supply student demand), and 3) Submitting a business plan to their parents to fund the production! Luckily, the Grade 6 parents were kind enough to fund their son or daughter’s business venture (but if all went well, that load would be repaid). The results were impressive. Personally, I purchased a cell phone charger that was made from a D-cell battery, a metal cough-drop box, and a few electrical components. During the day of the product fair, there was a whole buzz around the school that emanated from the Grade 6 classroom (much like an Apple Store at a mall). It’s safe to say the project was a complete success, with several groups selling out of their product. What is going to happen to the profits? Well, that was where the Gr. 6 students impressed most of all. They researched various charities and decided to donate to Covenant House. Excellent work! One of the Gr. 6 students (Mia Riddell) wrote an account of the experience here:
In the days leading up to the big sale, my class and I were both nervous and excited to sell the projects we’d been working so hard on. For a few weeks, we had been making products to sell to the kids of our school to raise money for the charity Covenant House. There were many unique products that my classmates made, my friend Lauren sold little stuffed animals with her brother, there were bookmarks, portable chargers (Mr. Field’s favorite), bracelets and soaps!
Mrs. Deutscher (our teacher) gave us the assignment as the second part of a previous project, which was picking a charity to support (which ended up being Covenant House)! She told us to think of a product that we could “mass produce” and that would be a big hit with the kids! Eliana (my partner) and I were not sure of a product right away but after looking at one of my younger sister’s art projects we had our product, the TP Doll! After weeks of prepping our handiwork, we were eager to start selling, making the last few finishing touches. The day to test the market had finally arrived!
When I first found out we were sponsoring Covenant House with the money from the sale, I was really excited because we often overlook the people who live around us, and I’m always happy when I can help people in local areas. I’m really glad that my class had the opportunity to take part in such an exciting and interesting project! I really enjoyed that warm feeling after I sold my products, it really does feel good to give!