DECA’s Entrepreneurship Students Put Business Skills to the Test on Market Day.
On April 18th, 2024, DECA’s entrepreneurship students demonstrate their skills by selling their products for their business.
Last Thursday, DECA introduced its first market day, which ran throughout all lunch shifts, from 11 to 1 pm. Despite being the first market day, numerous teachers, students, and staff gathered around the eighteen tables to purchase various items. Nevertheless, this event allows students to enhance their understanding of entrepreneurship by selling their products and earning a profit.
Entrepreneurship class is an elective class that many students participate in and enjoy every year. One student said their favorite part of the class was “The freedom we get and having hands-on activities. It’s more engaging than my other classes.” Students love the class whether for fun or because they want to own their own business someday. Market day is the culmination of putting everything students have learned in the class into practice.
This is the first year Mrs. Olinger has held a market day in her class. She attended a conference for teaching a curriculum called Empowered. In this program, it had previously practiced this type of hands-on event like Market Day. This program served as an inspiration for Mrs. Olinger.
During market day, students get the experience of running a business, including all of the highs and lows that come with it. Mrs. Olinger, who teaches entrepreneurship class, said that it’s about “having an understanding of responsibility, integrity, and opportunities within business.” Market day is an opportunity for students to put the knowledge they have learned to good use in a real-world scenario.
Market day took place during all four lunch periods. Mrs. Olinger did this because she “wanted to try to capture all the students, and lunch is the best way to do that.” Most students wouldn’t stay after school for market day because it is a new event they don’t know much about. Scheduling it during lunch was a success, as the market was thriving throughout every lunch period.
Multiple stands offered a variety of student-made goods and services: tiramisu, cookies, bracelets, ice cream, drinks, cotton candy, cookies, slime, stickers, dog treats, and even paying to throw pies at teachers. Products were reasonably priced for students as well, mostly costing under five dollars. Many also provided Venmo or CashApp for payment. A lot of freedom was given to students in how they created their businesses. No matter what you were expecting, the market had it and even more.
Market day was received well by the students at Kettle Run. There were many people buying things at the market. One of the most popular was the pie-throwing service, summoning a crowd of students around the stand. People flooded the market the moment the first lunch bell rang. By the fourth lunch shift, many of the stands had successfully sold all of their stock. Market day was a massive success that was enjoyed by all.
Before the event, students had been preparing for market day and creating their business strategy for six weeks. Students focused on managing their business by applying the knowledge they gained from analyzing, researching, and marketing strategies. A student explained that they were effectively preparing from the beginning because the skills they learned had led up to this point. Students in the class did market analysis by issuing surveys and cost analyses to price their products fairly.
Indubitably, market day is a beneficial activity for DECA’s entrepreneurship students as it provides them with practical business exposure that they can directly apply to their future careers after high school. “I have a strong interest in business. It’s not just my preference, but my parents are also involved in business and they encouraged me to pursue the same path,” shared one member. Moreover, this event reinforces the core principles taught by DECA, providing students with insight into the business world and allowing them to benefit from their hard work and experience.
Market day successfully drew in customers and provided students with valuable experience. The planning that went into creating it and the execution by the students were the primary causes of this success. The hard work students employed to make this possible and the results are great experiences they will carry with them for a long time. This year’s market day sets a clear precedent for the success of potential market days in the future.
