Arlington students launched a tasty entrepreneurial endeavor in the Ballston Commons Mall over the weekend. As part of the Classroom on the Mall, an exercise put together by the Arlington Career Center, a program that emphasizes technical and business skills, the students created their own business selling cookies for Valentine's Day.
The students are enrolled in teacher Michelle Wolpe's Classroom on the Mall elective course, designed to teach the skills they will need to open their own businesses or pursue a career in retail management. After electing officers like a CEO, along with managers of finance, production and human resources, the students had to sell stock in the company, dubbed “Sweet Hearts” for its line of heart-shaped treats.
“Monday, I think, will be our biggest day,” said Laura Chavez, 17, the company's president, looking forward to the rush of holiday shoppers. “We help each other out. You have to know how to multi-task.”
Now in her senior year, Chavez said she plans to put her leadership skills to use by enlisting in the Marine Corps. Chavez added that she hopes to start her own business in the future, an idea she has played with since her early childhood.
“Instead of playing with dolls, I opened my own lemonade stand,” she said.
BEFORE THE STUDENTS could officially open their store, they had to sell shares of stock to generate capital, conduct a market research survey to determine what product to sell and work out a supply chain.
“It takes a lot of energy,” said human resources manager Elisha Palmer, 17. “We do the gift wrapping. We had to sell stock. It's a long process.”
In class, the students prepared for the company's debut, learning the ins and outs of the business world as the exercise progressed. The cookies were baked at the Wildflour Bakery in North Arlington, which employs disabled adults.
Students undergo the Classroom on the Mall program each semester. According to Wolpe, the exercise was originally focused on the fashion industry but has since branched out to other products. Mall staff, she said, provided much support to the students in their work.
“Their surveys show that the mall's largest demographic of shopper is the lunch-time customer,” she said.
The program, she added, teaches valuable lessons about business, leadership and cooperation.
“They have to learn to work together,” she said. “They also have to learn to work through their failures and through the problems that come up. If someone isn't pulling their weight, for instance, in a real business that person would get fired. But they can't do that. They have to work it out and get things moving.”
At the end of the semester, the students will liquidate the company, repay their shareholders and donate their profits to the American Heart Association. The kiosk is donated by the mall management each year. In completing this course, students can get a national certification in Customer Service from the National Retail Federation Foundation.