Students Get the Business in High School Enterprises
The teller at the bank branch is accepting deposits, the baristas at the coffee cart are whipping up mochas and the day-care workers are playing with giggling babies.
Then the principal’s voice comes over the intercom, reminding students of the time for baseball practice and announcing that seniors are leading the contest to show which class has the most school spirit.
Students operate nine businesses at St. Helen’s High School in this small town 20 miles north of Portland. In addition to the bank, coffee cart and day care, there is a catering company, a banner-making business, a J.C. Penney catalog store, an art gallery, a computer company and a construction firm building a five-bedroom house.
The school is on the leading edge of a trend to have student-run businesses in high schools. Supporters say the businesses teach students valuable job skills and get them excited and involved in more traditional subjects.
In Johnson County High School in Tennessee, students operate a fish farm. In Philadelphia, sophomores at a few high schools staff carts at which they sell fruit salads and cookies. Students in Ozark, Mo., run a greenhouse; several high schools in rural Montana have successful odd-job services or video rental stores; and at Flagstaff High School in Arizona, students run a restaurant.
“I don’t know what my teachers will say about this, but I’ve learned more in that class than any other class,” said Jason Harper, 17, who works with St. Helen’s construction company. “If you make a mistake, it’s more serious out there because you’re working on a $230,000 house.”
Lessons for the Real World
Robin Anderson, who heads the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Portland, said such businesses reinforce the lessons students learn in the classroom--and help connect them to the real world.
“There is a saying, ‘Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I might remember. Involve me and I will understand,’ ” he said.
The movement was pushed along by the School-to-Work Opportunities Act. Since 1994, the federal program has provided more than $1.5 million to states to encourage school districts to develop career-readiness programs, including internships, school businesses and mentoring opportunities.
“With the changing economy and the need for skilled labor and with dropout rates increasing, the whole idea was to try to provide students an opportunity where they could see the relevance of what they were learning in the classroom to the workplace,” said program spokeswoman Ruth Martinez.
To avoid financial and labor-rule headaches, some states have their students operate make-believe businesses that exist only on paper.
In Oregon, though, almost every high school has at least one actual business, according to Nancy Hargis Stevenson, school-to-work coordinator for the Oregon Department of Education.
While the school store has been common for decades, high schools now have classes in which students design Web sites, do commercial videography work, run recycling centers, refurbish computers, produce newsletters and brochures, operate delivery services and design T-shirts, she said.
At several high schools in eastern Oregon, students make fencing and pens for cattle and equipment for hauling, she said.
“It’s an opportunity for students to explore careers and learn about the business world,” she said. “But it also lets them begin to see how every job fits into the larger picture. They learn about marketing, accounting, production of a [product] or service.
“It’s a wealth of real-world experience, but within the safe confines of school.”
At St. Helen’s High School, about a quarter of the 800 students participate in one of the nine businesses.
The business that led to the others was started in 1996 when teacher Bill Amos, frustrated by the lack of money to buy much-needed computers for students, founded Lion Computers.
Using a start-up loan, Amos’ students built or refurbished computers and sold them to teachers and the school district. The students also provided technical support for the computers. The profit was put back in the business.
As Lion Computers became more successful, school officials decided to expand.
Most of the businesses involve students working during the school day in a class in which they earn a grade. The J.C. Penney catalog store business also offers paying jobs if students want to work after school or on weekends. Some of the other businesses provide students with training or scholarships as rewards for exceptionally good work.
To avoid competing with existing businesses, school officials were careful to provide services they felt the community was lacking. While some of the businesses provide services to residents--like the catalog store off campus--others mostly serve students, teachers and the school district.
Any profits are reinvested in the companies.
Angela Jones, a student and 16-year-old mother, gets a double benefit from St. Helen’s day-care business. She leaves her 8-month-old son, Noah, in day care while she is in class. She also works at the day-care center, getting a grade for it and spending time with her baby.
“There are so many things going on at once--it makes you realize what work is like,” Jones said. “You’re not just sitting in a classroom doing one thing. You have to do multiple tasks at once--and caring for kids definitely teaches you that.”
Not everything runs smoothly.
Stacy Wallace, 18, remembers all the cookies that were burnt before the catering company staff figured out how to tell when chocolate-chocolate chip cookies were done. Some of the siding on the house being built by the construction class had to be replaced after failing a city inspection. And the school has had to deal with legal and liability issues.
As an increasing number of schools implement student-run businesses, Stevenson, with the state education department, said a challenge will be to make sure the connection with academics is stressed--not replaced by a desire to make money.
“These businesses should reinforce math, writing, oral communications, organization or time management,” she said. “It’s not just about going out and doing the activity but linking back to mastering academic skills and workplace readiness.”
Sean Poling, 18, had gotten so skilled at Web design with Lion Computers that he helps teach other students in the class now. He has decided that he wants to work with software design or the Internet after college.
“When I first got here as a freshman, I didn’t know much at all about computers,” he said. “This class allowed me the time to figure out what I was interested in. I can’t imagine being as focused as I am now without it.”
