SWHS teacher Ellen Festi begins every day of her entrepreneurship class with a pitch from Shark Tank.
Having bought all 15 seasons of the show, she handpicks episodes to play at the beginning of each class that apply to the topics she will address throughout the lesson. She understands that it is a massive attraction for a lot of the kids who end up taking her class.
Festi continuously updates and revises the entrepreneurship curriculum every year, making sure to incorporate current events into all the units covered in her class.
Last year, when Kanye West was controversially in the public spotlight, Festi utilized the opportunity to demonstrate “how opinions of very public entrepreneurs can cause the success or failure of a business.”
This year, Festi is shifting her focus more on the resale market and business opportunities created by social media, since that is what her students base seems to enjoy.
“I try to expose students to a variety of business opportunities,” Festi said while speaking with The Prowl.
Some of those opportunities, such as resale businesses, are things students can start now. But Festi isn’t confined to these smaller endeavors, also discussing larger businesses, like Apple, and how they were born and grew.
The goal of Festi’s class is to provide a baseline of knowledge for students who may end up taking a business class, or even major in business, in college.
She achieves this through combining a variety of activities, such as small groups, Kahoots, independent work, and, most importantly, projects.
Right now, as the semester rounds to a close, her students are beginning their food truck/mobile business project. Students create a model – either online or on paper – of their mobile business, creating a website for their business and planning out how to start it up.
Students often get creative with their models, implementing many features like energy efficient trucks, incentive programs for customers and developing the background of the business with unique details.
SWHS students Ikkyu Raviwongse and Gagan Parasa took Festi’s entrepreneurship class last year. For their mobile business projects, Raviwongse made a truck that sold hunting gear while Parasa created a truck that sold South Indian food.
While creating vastly different projects, they agreed that the class was engaging and fun and that they looked forward to taking it every day.
As the second quarter comes to a close, Festi’s class continues to work on their mobile business projects while learning more about different components of business and entrepreneurship as a whole.
