|
DANBURY — In a few short
weeks, Rogers Park Middle School eighth-grader Corinne Calli learned that being
a business partner and selling a product is not as simple as it looks.
Even if that product is a cute, cuddly bear. "I didn’t realize how
competitive it is,” said Calli, 13. At 101 bears, she was the top seller in
her class. Her strategy included bright and catchy posters to attract the
attention of other students and being a good salesperson.
Danbury High School juniors Claire Fernandez, 17, Marissa Vitolo, 16, and
Arielle Napp, 16, taught Melody Montgomery’s eighth-grade class about free
enterprise by having the students form companies and sell a product — the
bears — to fellow classmates.
The project was through their high school marketing class and their involvement
with DECA — Distributive Education Club of America. They took on the project
to enter a state business competition in March against other high school student
groups.
All the girls had Montgomery as a teacher in middle school, so they asked her to
help. In January, they began teaching about 25 eighth-graders what free
enterprise means, from forming a company to advertising and marketing a product.
The class was split into three groups. Each group formed a company and had to
sell small, white bears that had a tiny Valentine’s Day balloon.
They could market the bears however they wanted and choose what price to charge.
One group, Cupid’s Elves Co., sold their bear with chocolate and candy hearts.
Danbury High’s school store is run by the marketing class and DECA. The
store’s profits are used for educational projects like these and provided the
funds for the bears.
The profits, about $360, are being donated to a charity of the eighth grade
students’ choice —Hanahoe Memorial Children’s Clinic in Danbury, which
gives health care to uninsured or underinsured children.
As part of the project, the high schoolers told the eighth-graders to write
letters to soldiers fighting in Iraq, and ask them what it is like in a society
without a free enterprise system.
"We wanted to connect it to modern day,” said Fernandez, and to
illustrate for the young students how important free enterprise is. Middle
school students could order the bears and have them delivered to other
students’ homerooms.
On Thursday morning, the bears arrived. Having a business "has got to be
hard,” said 13-year-old Donald Dolberry. He learned making posters and flyers
that appeal to customers and staying competitive is half the battle.
"It is exhausting,” said eighth-grader Mitasia Partcelli. "I learned
how to take customers away from others.”
She let customers know her company’s bears were cheaper than the
competitors’ and that the bears were going for a good cause. Someday, she would like to run a business of her own.
"Competition pushes you to do stuff you normally wouldn’t do,” said
eighth-grader Thomas Masci, 13, who learned to become more involved.
Eighth-grader Michael Luis, 13, learned "you have to lower your price if
you really want to change how much (product) you can sell.”
Eighth-grader Erica Manzano, 13, said she now understands what goes into the
things she buys. Montgomery said she thought the partnership between the
eighth-graders and the high school students was positive.
The students learned lessons from their mistakes, such as making sure orders
were distributed, a set of checks and balances was in place and how important it
is to keep records.
Addemir Espinal, 13, and her group’s company, Love Bears, realized they had to
figure out a way to sell the bears between classes and get to class on time,
something that became complicated. She also realized that her ability to speak
Spanish and English was a major business asset.
"It was fun,” she said. She doesn’t think she could be a business owner
because she knows that a true business would have to invest in a product and pay
taxes. "I am too greedy for that,” said Espinal.
|
photo
by Chris Ware