By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–There’s some serious “business” going on at Union City Middle School.
Students in Jennifer Bruff’s 6th-grade advanced math class have been assigned an entrepreneur project in which they were challenged to create a business and market their product or services.
The business plans have included both math and computer skills and the students presented their proposals to the class in sort of an informal “Shark Tank” setting that included a question-and-answer session afterward.
“This project helps students realize the amount of work and financial commitment that goes into starting your own business,” Bruff said. “But it also shows them the possibilities of pursuing something they are passionate about.”
Creativity, imagination and marketing strategy have been at a premium as students ‑‑ in groups of two and three ‑‑ have produced flyers, handed out their own business cards, promoted websites and slogans and even produced product samples for the class and would-be patrons to examine.
Product development, set-up costs and target groups were discussed among “owners” and “patrons” during back-and-forth banter following the presentations.
Other parts of the assignment included estimating how many employees would be needed to run the respective businesses, the start-up cost of commercial real estate rental and the cost of renovating/designing of said office space.
Several students even created commercials that were informative and well-received.
On Friday last week, BC Shoes & Company, Larry’s Table Lifters and Squeaky Clean, the latter a business for musical instruments, presented their respective business models.
Presentations are set to continue this week.