As January comes to a close, South Windsor High School students enter their midterm season and teachers assess their comprehension of the semester’s course work.
For many, midterms are stressful, due to the standard formatting of the various assessments. However, some courses offer a more creative approach, to lighten the workload for their students.
An example of a class that thrives in a primarily creative environment, is Entrepreneurship. Taught by Mrs. Ellen Festi and Mr. David Hodge, this course is available for students who wish to pursue a more unconventional career path after high school.
“They are in this class because they seriously want to be entrepreneurs, [we teach them] tools they can use in the future when it comes to profitability of a business, [and] all the things it takes to start a business,” Hodge told The Prowl.
In order to apply these skills to the mid-term, students were tasked with starting a small business revolving around the idea of a truck. In terms of content for the project, students created a model of their truck of choice along with a website containing the logistics behind their business.
Although there are a few required components, students have the freedom to sell whatever merchandise they wish with their truck. Past students have created mobile movie theaters, food trucks, and trucks selling sporting goods.
“I am doing a ramen food truck because I love ramen and there are not many food trucks or restaurants that sell different types of ramen and topping for them,” freshmen, Joshitha Yerram, commented.
Students are required to incorporate a business plan, list of sold products, logo, slogan, business name, mission statement and various other components that would further the teacher’s understanding of their business model.
Although this is just a midterm, the project allows students to explore potential career paths after high school and furthers their understanding of the logistics that go into creating a business. Teachers explained that while a traditional test could be administered to the students in entrepreneurship, this project allowed students to apply the major concepts of business.
“[I want] students to apply themselves more and hopefully they’re learning is more realistic to them and they can see the usefulness of the project itself,” Hodge stated.
The final products created by SWHS students typically exceed the course expectations, due to the higher level of interest that correlated with this project. Entrepreneurship students appreciate this opportunity to break away from standard studying, and focus on a creative project during midterm season.
