FlexTech High School’s Youth Entrepreneurs class partnered with Lake Trust Credit Union on a real-world economics project in which students experienced what it was like to start their own businesses. During the course of the program, students developed a product or service that offered a solution to a market-based need or interest in their community. Working with real-world professionals and mentors, students created their product or service. This real-world experience culminated with Market Day, an annual event open to peers, staff and the community, which was held this spring.
Nicole Dietrich, business development manager at Lake Trust, said she was excited to partner with the school and enjoyed working with students in such a real world scenario.
“I understand the power of fostering the entrepreneurial spirit at the earliest level and am grateful for partners like FlexTech,” she said.
Her credit union’s sponsorship allowed students to dream up new products based on market research, but also their individual interests.
One example was Zak Klann, a junior in Jones’ class, who invented the “Artistry’s Eye,” a 3-D printed watercolor brush holder that has a palette for paint colors, 3 separated water reservoirs, and a ridged design to dry off brushes.
Klann shared his inspiration for his product: “I wanted to find something that I was passionate about, which was art in this case,” he said. “I thought of a problem that needed to be solved and I used the project-based model to get feedback. I determined pricing and features of the product.”
Klann worked with community partner Fabrizio Tarara, vice president of sales at C & B Machinery, who helped him improve his design using the engineering design process.
“Lake Trust’s involvement has been integral to this project,” said Keith Jones, youth entrepreneurs teacher. “This level of community involvement represents gold standard project based learning because it offers students an authentic audience, a real world application, and sustained inquiry.”
