Market Day is a yearly tradition for both students taking the Youth Entrepreneur (YE) class and for those that buy their goods. The food sold by individual YE students is determined from surveys sent to students and staff, a “shark tank” pitch presented to YE teacher Shawna Cole and a conclusion on which foods will sell better.
Cole says that the day acts as her students “final”. While they will still have a test at the end of the semester, Market Day is what the kids have been working up to for most of their semester.
“This [Market Day] is their big project their working towards and it keeps the kids engaged, it’s fun and they get to keep their profits and then second semester they focus on their business plan,” Cole said.
The preparations for Market Day started Nov. 19, about a month in advance. Junior YE student Carson Ebert said multiple steps are required to produce the finished product that the student body sees.
“We planned our products and then we sent an email to everybody to figure out if that’s what they wanted, the market that it was going to sell. And then we planned on what we were going to need to buy it,” Ebert said.
The food sold on market day is made the morning of. Students spent two hours on Nov. 19 preparing their food in the FACS (Family and Consumer Sciences) kitchen. After the food was ready, students set up tables in the commons and waited for their customers.
Upon the completion of the day, students got to keep their profits after paying off loans. For example, sophomore YE student Owen Mills sold breadsticks, cookie dough and Mountain Dew, profiting around $130 and Ebert sold cake pops, waffles and strawberry lemonade, estimating that he made around $300.
“I’m gonna save the money,” Ebert said. “I will invest later on.”
Aside for making Market Day possible, YE students also learn the skills they need to be a successful entrepreneur. For Cole, to help her students succeed from market day, it’s all about giving students advice, but letting them take charge of their own projects.
“Honestly, what I really want students to take away from YE is having a creative mindset about solving problems no matter what,” Cole said.