Young Achievers

Young Achievers

FIRST PERSON by Mark Gordon | Managing Editor

There is reason to be optimistic about the future workforce of America. A group of spunky, yet savvy fifth-graders can prove it.

(Editor's Note: Review Managing Editor Mark Gordon recently served as a classroom volunteer for Junior Achievement. Here's a journal of his sessions with a fifth-grade class at McNeal Elementary School in east Manatee County.)

My first experience as a classroom volunteer for Junior Achievement quickly turned into my own lesson in Business 101: Never underestimate the competition.

Or, in this case, don't underestimate a class of fifth-graders eager to learn about the virtues of capitalism and the triumphs of the American entrepreneurial spirit. And all it took was the outstretched arm of Anay Patel, a spunky fifth grader, to put me in my place.

There I was one recent Thursday morning, no more than five minutes into lesson one of a five-part curriculum for Junior Achievement, an international nonprofit program that teaches children and teenagers about finances, economics and business. I was assigned to work with the fifth-grade class at McNeal Elementary School in east Manatee County taught by Amy Ross Bradl.

I learned that first lesson as I was talking about the risks and rewards a company has to weigh when it seeks to buy another company. Anay's hand flew up. "What if it's a hostile takeover?" the 11-year-old wondered.

Any doubts about whether a class of 22 fifth-graders could handle a business-heavy curriculum quickly dissipated. This class was smart and savvy and they wanted to learn. In business terms, they "got it" and when they didn't get it, they weren't shy about asking questions.

From who was my most famous interview subject ever (Gov. Jeb Bush, although I have interviewed Mr. Rogers - twice) to how much money I earn (work for passion, not a paycheck, I replied) this class covered it all.

The bulk of our time, though, was spent with the Junior Achievement curriculum. The Colorado Springs-based organization, which is almost 90 years old, has utilized a series of time-tested programs that can be catered to specific ages and classes. The program has reached more than 8 million students worldwide.

This program, called Our Nation, was designed to take fifth-grade students through the steps of starting and running a business.

Lesson 1: Three forms

This class defined how a business could go from a sole proprietorship to a partnership to a corporation. One student, 11-year-old Alisha Erozer, volunteered to be the owner of the business, a car repair shop we named Alisha's Repair Shop.

The class learned about how that business could grow, first in revenues and profits, and later in adding employees. The shop grew to have several other stores across town, too.

The class though, became most animated when dealing with competition when fellow student Matthew Muscara opened a competing mechanic shop. After debating some pros and cons, the board of directors for Alisha's Repair Shop ultimately decided to buy the competing company as a way of overtaking the competition.

In the process, Alisha and the class learned a valuable lesson in business and entrepreneurship: For a business to grow, sometimes the business owner has to give up control.

Lesson 2: Business resources

This lesson focused on what human resources and capital resources are all about. We talked about the difference between a career and a job, and what exactly an entrepreneur does.

We conducted mock job interviews, too. Good news hiring managers: This class knows the basics of what to do at a job interview. I played the part of a 'bad' interviewee, and the class immediately seized on all the things I did wrong, such as interrupting the interviewer, yawning, wearing a baseball cap that covered my eyes and generally being rude.

The students also took a career interest test, to see what they want to be when they grow up.

The class included several future veterinarians, doctors, lawyers, even an architect and an actress. No future newspaper reporters.

Lesson 3: Production

These are fifth-graders? The concept of this lesson was to have the students learn about the challenges of making stuff - in this case, Junior Achievement pens.

The class broke down into groups and we talked about what makes an assembly line work. Each student on the line had a job to do with the pens, from springs to clickers to the upper and lower end of each pen.

I had planned for the class to do this exercise, in several variations, for 30-40 minutes. But all the groups put their pens together in less than three minutes.

And they were just as quick when I threw in some hiccups. For example, I pulled some students out of each line, saying they had called in sick or had to leave early. The students learned another valuable business lesson: How to improvise.

Lesson 4: Advertising

The students were again impressive with this lesson.

We broke into small groups to look at ads from different magazines. While the Junior Achievement curriculum provides some ads to show, I decided to broaden it to include ads from Sports Illustrated and People.

The class morphed into a Madison Avenue focus group. Opinions, both well thought-out and passionate, came through on just about every ad. Note to ad-copy writers: Dogs sell stuff, especially when you can dress him up in an Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses.

Lesson 5: Entrepreneurs

This lesson was designed to wrap up the four previous sessions. We began with talking about the Four Ps of marketing: what product will be sold? What price will it sell for? At what place will it be sold? And how will it be promoted?

The class chose to open a babysitting business for its first foray into entrepreneurialism. Again, we broke into groups, with each one taking on one of the four Ps. Business minds were churning.

The product group, which included students Lydia Super, 10, and Katie Wray, 11, came up with the idea to expand the babysitting service to include pets.

The place group discussed the possibility of group sitting, where they would send multiple sitters to look after a big group of children.

Student Dmitry Smith wisely considered the business would need more insurance.

And Anay Patel and Alisha Erozer, part of the group responsible for setting prices, created a white board of structured and tiered prices.

In an informal survey after the last class (over donuts and milk) the students spoke about what they liked and what they learned from Junior Achievement. That, and their plans for the summer vacation.

It was not only my first experience with the program, it was theirs too.

The class said they liked learning about new things. Alisha liked handling money (I temporarily gave her the $2 in my wallet to demonstrate cash flow). Twins Nicole and Hannah Grant liked talking about customer service issues - and sharing horror stories.

And Dmitry, 11, liked the whole program.

"We got to learn about businesses," Dmitry said, "and what we can do to make them better."

INTERESTED?

To learn more about Junior Achievement or to volunteer, call (941) 361-1410.

REVIEW SUMMARY

Organization. Junior Achievement, Manatee County

Class. Amy Ross Bradl's fifth-grade class, McNeal Elementary School, Manatee County.

Key. Review Managing Editor Mark Gordon spent five weeks volunteering in the classroom for Junior Achievement.