The Grade 5 and 6 students in Jennifer Anderson’s class mean business. In the very best way.
The Review stopped in at the Pleasant Corner Public School Business Fair which took place on June 15 at the school and while we were there, we caught about one dozen groups of students at their business booths just before everyone opened up shop.
This was a learning experience for the students like no other. Called ‘Dream Like a Kid’, students were invited to come up with a unique product to sell. Each small business had a budget of $200 provided by the Upper Canada District School Board — all part of the Real World Learning Program. That amount was topped up personally by UCDSB Vice-President of Real World Learning Cam Jones to give the students a larger budget to work with.
Students not only invented their product, but they had to figure out product pricing, stay within their budget, design labels and marketing slogans and then be there at the business fair to deliver.
It’s hard to explain the excitement that was in the air that evening. Teacher Jennifer Anderson gave this writer a whirlwind tour of each booth before the doors opened.
The proceeds from the event ($4,100) were being shared by creating a bursary for a graduating Vankleek Hill Collegiate Institute (VCI) student going into a business or trade program, with the other half going to the Vankleek Hill Business and Merchant Association to support the businesses in Vankleek Hill. With these goals, the students considered themselves social entrepreneurs. The bursary will run for the duration of 10 years until these same Grade 5 and 6 students graduate from VCI.
Mrs. Anderson pointed out the wooden booth frames and explained that they had been made by a VCI carpentry class and added that Staples had been generous by assisting each group with its banner at the front of each booth.
From flavoured popcorn to cotton candy, a photo booth, home-baked cookies, travel mugs, frozen drinks and so much more, students were doing a brisk business during the three-hour event, which ran from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
This writer’s personal favourite was ‘Mood Water.’ But with the buzz of happy young entrepreneurs at work, no one really needed a mood boost that night.
Mrs. Anderson had nothing but praise for the students, their creativity and their hard work. She called this project the high point of her career. “This night is really about them. They made it happen,” she ended.
