Denver, September 26, 2008Students in an enrichment class at Skinner Middle School will be working on such a question. Skinner Middle School has introduced the new Friday Enrichment program where students get to choose from over thirty opportunities that tap into their strengths, talents and interests.
Led by volunteer Wayne Applehans from Microsoft, his mother, Donna, and teacher Craig Dehning, the class has split into three teams, one such Friday Enrichment program has split a class into three teams, each of which will develop their own business plan. And, thanks to funding from State Farm Insurance, they have venture capital to implement it. Lisa Bardwell from FrontRange Earth Force presented each of the groups with $150 this last Friday. "We received support from State Farm to support schools in implementing a student-driven service-learning project around financial literacy. This is such a cool opportunity for young people to get to dream and then actually dive into understanding what it takes to take on a business venture."
Now the hard work begins as the students start developing their ideas and learning about the realities of managing money and developing a business.
Wayne Applehans attended Edison, Skinner and graduated from North High School in 1982 and is excited to be back working with students. "It's great to be back at Skinner in a capacity where I can give back to the North Denver community and help the kids learn the basics of business. They catch on very fast when real money is involved!"
As part of the project, the students are responsible for keeping the community abreast of their business ventures, so stay tuned!
Alex, Patrick, Steven, Eva, Darby, Chrystal, Carlos, Oscar, Alex, Nathaniel, and Nick hand over their venture capital to their treasurer, Mr. Dehning.