"Mrs. Briney's Bunch:
Fifth Grade Entrepreneurs!"

       Heather Briney's fifth grade class at Lincoln Elementary, under the guidance of their Junior Achievement consultant, Frank Walsh, decided to try something different during their JA program this year.

       They decided to apply the JA lessons they were learning to starting their own business!

       Mr. Walsh, City Manager of St. Joseph, has been a JA consultant for 14 years, six of those at Lincoln Elementary. His daughter is in Mrs. Briney's class.

     In his words, "The aim of the 5th grade JA curriculum is to learn about starting and managing a business. The goal is to introduce students to profit, loss, risk, stocks, and marketing."

       Mrs. Briney is also very familiar with the program, having hosted JA in her classroom for several years. "When Mr. Walsh asked me if I would care if we did something a little bit different this year, I told him that I was open for new learning as long as we covered the topics."

       The class goal was to design and market a product that could bring in enough profit for them to buy a new Whirlpool microwave for their classroom. Since the class was meeting in the weeks before Christmas, it just seemed natural that the "product" would be custom-designed holiday cards.

       Each of the 22 students submitted one cover drawing, then they all worked together choosing a greeting and designing the card back. Oscar's Printing manufactured 100 boxes for them at cost, and the students advertised and sold the boxes of 22 cards for $14 per box.

       Within two weeks, the cards sold out, and the students purchased their new microwave. They also made enough profit to buy a nice Christmas gift for Mrs. Briney, with extra left over.

       "The students learned first-hand about creating, selling, and marketing a project," Mr. Walsh summarizes.

       The class learned an extra lesson in sharing, too. They chose to donate the remainder of their profits to Animal Aid of Southwestern Michigan, in memory of Mrs. Briney's Dalmatian, Lance.

       These are lessons that they will remember, Mrs. Briney thinks. "The children found that sometimes you have to be flexible and take risks. We also wanted to teach them to spread the wealth and help a good cause. As with life and business, nothing is ever accomplished without hard work, dedication, perseverence, and determination. We succeeded by working and learning together!"