43
Canfield students get down to business
Photo
The Cardinal Tribe is at your service with a varsiety of Canfield Cardinal spirit wear. The group is selling the products as part of a business class project.
Photo
The Block 1 group is peddling these "Game Time Shirts" in small, medium, large, extra large and XXL for $10.
Photo
The Bird Is the Word group is selling various Canfield Cardinal spirit wear as part of the business class project.
Photo
The Block 2 class is selling these "comfortable, yet fashionable, Canfield Cardinal burn out shirts" for $18.
By ANNA BROCKER
The Cardinal
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, there were an estimated 27.5 million small businesses functioning in the United States last year. Thanks to a business class at Canfield High school, you can add a few more.
This year, each of Canfield High School’s Introduction to Business classes is joining the world of small business by creating a fully-functioning retail business through Junior Achievement’s Company Program. Through this project, students will learn what it means to be an entrepreneur in today’s economy.
Junior Achievement is a worldwide organization that focuses on educating students in grades K-12 about important and relevant financial skills. With its variety of programs, JA teaches students about topics such as workforce readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy.
Junior Achievement volunteers from the community direct participants through hands-on activities and situations that teach students about the fiscal areas the program covers.
Virtually every aspect of a company is incorporated into this program. Students determine what kind of product they may be interested in selling to their peers and the community. The group considers what product would be most appealing to the largest variety of consumers, as well as an item that would be easy to purchase wholesale and distribute.
Then, the company decides upon a name as well as a slogan and logo it wants to represent it. After conducting its research, the business selects a wholesaler who can offer the lowest price. That will help determine a selling price that will produce a reasonable profit per item sold.
To purchase the product from the wholesaler, the company sells stock at $2 per share to raise enough capital to purchase the product they wish to sell.
Students will work to market their products to the schools and community and take orders from customers for the products. After the ordering period ends and the company delivers the product, the program concludes with the complete liquidation of the company. The company will also deliver dividend checks to stockholders and paychecks to its employees.
Canfield High School business teacher Sherry Creighton, and Roy Passarelli, a local business owner and JA volunteer, are directing the students through this program. But the students primarily run the business.
Passarelli, who has been involved in this JA program in the past “believes the JA Company Program gives students a realistic insight to how businesses actually operate, create a product, market a product, and [hopefully] make a profit.”
Both classes voted six of their classmates to serve as the officers of the company. Officer positions include President, Vice President of Marketing, Vice President of Finance, Vice President of Human Resources, Vice President of Public Relations and Vice President of Production.
Students who did not wish to be officers indicated in which department they wished to work. Passarelli then informed each department of its responsibilities and individual contributions to the company.
The First Block Business class, who dubbed themselves the Cardinal Tribe, decided to sell Canfield-themed spirit wear. The Tribe will sell five different items of clothing. These articles include a unisex T-shirt for $10, a girls short-sleeved v-neck T-shirt for $16, a long-sleeved rhinestone-embellished scoop neck shirt for $22, a unisex pull-over hooded sweatshirt for $22,and a unisex zip-up fleece jacket for $30.
The Bird is the Word Productions, the company created by the Second Block Business class, also chose to sell Canfield spirit wear. This company has decided to sell a girls short-sleeved burnout shirt for $18.00, girls yoga pants for $20, a drawstring bag for $12 and a unisex T-shirt for $10.
Each class will participate in the Company Program until the end of the course. Both companies will take orders for their spirit wear products through Jan. 7. Christmas delivery is available.
For information on purchasing products from either student business, visit http://canfield.access-k12.org/chs/Intro-to-Business/default.htm.
(Anna Brocker is a senior at Canfield High School and is a staff writer for The Cardinal as part of the school’s Newspaper Publishing class.)