Port Guichon Students Start Small Business and Use Profits to Give Back
For the past few months, grade seven students at Port Guichon Elementary have been working hard on a small business to help their fellow students stay organized and also give back to kids in need.
In conjunction with a group called Junior Achievement (jabc.ca) the students worked together to create a small business and then evaluate their work as entrepreneurs.
“It not only made children happy, but it taught us to work as a team.”
Working with Junior Achievement, the students decided to make and sell notebooks with a twist. They painted the covers of notebooks with chalkboard paint so the books had re-writable covers and called their business “Chalk-It”.
“Junior Achievement was a really fun experience and I learnt a lot,” says Marisa, one of the grade seven students. “You definitely can’t [run a business] by yourself. I learned that if you leave out little things or even make little mistakes, it can affect the overall outcome of your business; perhaps whether it was a failure or a success.”
Not satisfied with the just the financial success of Chalk-it, the students also incorporated philanthropy into their business model, and decided to donate half the profits—about $100—to the Make A Wish Foundation.
Says Regan, also in grade seven, “It (Chalk-It) not only made children happy, but it taught us to work as a team.”