Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
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Martinsville, Virginia 24115
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Business students at Martinsville High School recently launched their own enterprise, a school store. Above, seniors Weill Casey (right) and Rodney Johns (second from right) run the store, which operates during lunch periods in a kiosk near the cafeteria. Also shown above are customers Rueben Hagwood (left) and Dominick Carter. (Contributed photos by Kim Barto) |
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Monday, March 15, 2010
By ELIZA WINSTON - Bulletin Staff Writer
Nine budding entrepreneurs are proving that you are never too young to start learning to earn.
Several Martinsville High School students are learning about entrepreneurship by creating their own business, complete with shareholders, customers and — hopefully — a profit.
“I love the sense of knowing that we run our own business,” said senior Rodney Johns.
Brian Barnes, business teacher at Martinsville High School, said several of his students are getting real-life experience by creating their own business: a Martinsville High School store. Funding was available through a grant program from Jobs for Virginia Graduates to help the entrepreneurs with startup costs, he said.
“They had to begin the project from scratch,” Barnes said.
He explained that nine of his students run the store, and they all are shareholders. Each student put in $5, which was used to buy school supplies to be sold, such as pens, pencils, erasers and paper.
The students take turns selling items from a kiosk during lunch. On a recent day, seniors Weill Casey, Jamel Hill and Johns — each among the nine shareholders who operate the business — were working at the store.
“We chose to make and sell T-shirts because there are school T-shirts available for clubs, sports and seniors, but we wanted to create a shirt that everyone at the school would want to wear,” Johns said.
After deciding what product they wanted to focus on, the students did research to decide where the shirts would be made. They decided to use a Bassett company called Creative Bee.
Next, they had to come up with a design for the shirt. Johns said each shareholder came up with a design and then the group picked two to combine into a final design.
The group spent $840 to have the T-shirts made, said Barnes, adding that money came out of the grant. After that, all expenses had to be paid for with revenue earned from sales, he said.
The store is open while lunch is served, and it is located outside the cafeteria in a kiosk rented from Liberty Fair Mall. Barnes said that while the store is selling shirts, all of the revenue made so far has been put toward paying rent on the kiosk for the rest of the school year.
“Like most businesses, after being open two months they still have not turned a profit,” said Barnes, who added that he expects that will change.
The students had to figure out how much to charge, and they handle all of the financial aspects of the business, which include balancing the cash drawer each day, he said.
“This is a student-run business and organization. They handle every aspect,” Barnes said.
In addition to planning, selling and bookkeeping, the students also create marketing materials to attract customers.
“We made commercials for the store with the video production class, put advertisements in a case in the library, and we made flyers to distribute,” Johns said.
Currently, the business only reaches other Martinsville High School students, but the students hope to reach more customers eventually. Casey said they hope some alumni and residents who want to show their Bulldog pride might become customers.
“We want everyone in Martinsville to buy our shirts,” he said.
Although Barnes said the business will dissolve at the end of the school year, he hopes to continue the program next year. Next year’s students also would have to start from scratch and come up with a product to sell, he said.
The skills the students learn from creating and running a business will stay with them even after the store closes, they said.
“This experience opened my eyes to a whole new ball field that I can pursue,” said Casey. “I have more options now.” |
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