Saturday, February 27th, 2010
Creating their own businesses
Celina fourth graders turn into entrepreneurs with flair
By William Kincaid
Photo by William Kincaid/The Daily Standard
Celina East Elementary student Brook Zizelman describes how her proposed business would earn money while helping animals. Zizelman and other students in Peggy Green's fourth grade class learned about productive resources and running their own businesses.
Some are practical, others creative - but every fictional business, portrayed through student-created dioramas, displays entrepreneurial knowledge learned in Peggy Green's fourth grade class at Celina West Elementary.
An army surplus store, candy outlet and magic shop are a few of the business students might like to pursue in the future.
"They learn about productive resources as a class," Green said about the students in her entrepreneurial class project, now in its third year at Celina West Elementary.
Some of Green's students talked about their new-found business awareness with the newspaper this week.
Brook Zizelman blends capitalism and altruism with an animal sanctuary.
"To help animals find a good home," she said.
Briana Eisenhut, Zizelman's classmate, would turn her affinity for candy into profit with "Briana's Tasty Candy Store.
"It takes a lot of work to set it up and buy everything," she said when asked what it would take to start her business. "You need natural resources from nature to start it. You need workers."
"What is capital?" Green asked.
Capital, one student replied, is needed to run a business and purchase the necessary tools.
Another student, when asked, said entrepreneurs are people who devise ideas and take risks.
"It would be a lot of advertising around the city and a lot of flyers," student Drake Dennis said about initiating his magic shop, "Drake's Dark Arts."
Green pointed out that some of the students' businesses - especially those with a specific niche - may fare better in larger cities than in Celina.
"Would there be a big niche for magic?" Green asked.
"Maybe not," Dennis said.
Eisenhut agreed and said "Briana's Tasty Candy Store" would have a better chance of success in Columbus.
"Because they have a lot of stores and a lot more people," she said.
But Cameron Peck said his proposed store, "Cameron's Flower Shop," would probably do well in Celina.
With Green's direction, the students also discussed competition, monopolies, securing loans, labor, insurance and supply and demand.
Many of the students said their teacher's two-week project - which required them create their dioramas at home - was their first introduction to entrepreneurism.
"They are anticipating becoming entrepreneurs in the future," Green said.
Photo by William Kincaid/The Daily Standard
Fourth grade teacher Peggy Green talks to her students at Celina West Elementary about entrepreneurism.
