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Business suits Canfield High class to a T
The Vindicator (Youngstown)
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Canfield High School students work to edit a commercial they made, advertising the clothing they will sell through their Intro to Business class. Seniors Brad Kelly, left, Ryan Camardo and Ryan O’Hara and freshman Alex Heldrerk shot the video in class last week.
The Vindicator (Youngstown)
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Senior Toni Topoleski and freshman Anna Lugono work on the color design of the T shirt the Intro to Business class will sell this year.
By Kristine Gill
CANFIELD
Just three weeks into the semester, and three hours into her sketch, freshman Dominique Farve has likely created the design Canfield High School students will wear across their chests this year.
Intro to Business teacher Sherry Creighton held up the drawing in class Thursday while students debated which colors to silk-screen on the T-shirts they’ll sell to their peers.
“We saw a shirt for the Buckeyes with an eagle above a crest and lions on either side,” Farve said. “So I made it into a cardinal with a Howland tiger and a Poland bulldog on either side.”
The class of 26 ninth- through 12th-graders is only the second semester of students to create and manage their own business through the newly revamped course. This semester, they’ll sell spirit wear including sunglasses, shorts, T-shirts, ponchos, sweat pants and umbrellas.
Last semester, one of the two Intro to Business classes turned a profit selling more than $4,000 in clothing to Canfield supporters. Top sellers took home checks of up to $120 on their commission sales.
“The students learn marketing skills, money- and time-management skills, interpersonal-relationship skills,” Creighton said. “And they all seem to blend so perfectly, you couldn’t tell who’s a freshman.”
Students break out into committees and elect their own officers for the company and, so far, enjoy the work.
“It’s a really hands-on class, which is refreshing in high school,” said senior Carly Magnuson, treasurer for the business. Magnuson took the class because she hopes to open a vegan restaurant in New York City after graduation.
Senior Leia Molnar was president in one of last semester’s business classes and also wants to pursue a career in the field.
“I learned leadership,” she said. “I had to keep people motivated and enthusiastic so things would get done.”
Students are responsible for raising capital, finding investors, selling fake stock, designing and marketing their product and staying out of the red.
“Since I handled money, I was thinking about this all the time,” said senior Anna Brocker, last semester’s vice president of finance.
“They keep close records,” Creighton said. “Every single penny is accounted for. This is a huge responsibility.”
The class receives help through the Junior Achievement Program of Mahoning Valley Inc., a national nonprofit with local chapters that send volunteers to teach students from kindergarten through high school the basics of business, community and government.
Local business owner Roy Passarelli visits with Creighton’s class weekly to help with the project. He owns Vital Record Storage and Management in Youngstown and has volunteered through Junior Achievement for several years.
“If the kids are enthusiastic, it works,” he said.
Canfield students aren’t the only ones getting a glimpse of the business world. Michele Merkel, president of Junior Achievement, said the group has sent volunteers to work with Poland and Austintown schools as well.
“Junior Achievement opens the checking account for the schools,” Merkel said, adding that students have not created financial issues for the organization by overdrafting.
“It can be scary,” she joked. “So far, it hasn’t happened.”
In Canfield, last semester’s classes found a demand for women’s clothing, so they sold a rhinestone-studded shirt and a V-neck. This semester, there is only one Intro to Business class, and the students are looking to summer by selling sunglasses and shorts.
“We have a monopoly,” joked junior Dalton Bosze, vice president for public relations.