Saint Paul Catholic School Holds First Ever Entrepreneurial Fair

Saint Paul Catholic School's much anticipated Entrepreneurial Fair was held last Friday, January 29th. All 8th graders in Mrs. Funk's Career & College Readiness class were challenged to create a product and develop that product from the initial idea stage to final calculations of their profits.

There were 11 teams made up of 2-3 individuals. After creating a product, all teams were to do the following:

• write a “business plan”
• apply for a “business loan”
• develop their product, sometimes making revisions
• advertise and market their product with flyers and face-to-face advertising
• sell the product at the fair using customer service skills, presenting their product in an attractive, eye-pleasing “kiosk”
• finally, calculate their profits

The items sold ranged in price from 50 cents to $5-$6 (cash only). After planning to remain open for 4 hours to potential buyers, the students ended up selling out of every product within an hour and a half! The total sales for all eleven teams was $1,499.00. After each team paid back their bank loans, the net sales was $1,194.00. After an outside donation was added in, a total of $1,300.00 will be donated to Riley's Children's Hospital in Indianapolis.

College and Career Readiness course instructor Anna Funk stated, "I am so proud of each student's effort, enthusiasm, and professionalism displayed throughout the Fair. This was a "lesson" I hope they will never forget." Thank you to all who supported our Entrepreneurial Fair and helped this project-based learning take off!