Students Learn Entrepreneurship Firsthand A high school program teaches students the basics of entrepreneurship by giving them the reins to a publishing business.
By Devlin Smith
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
I never liked economics in high school. It was so ridiculouslyboring, having to watch videos of ancient professors drone onendlessly about supply and demand. Thankfully, it only lasted asemester.
Students at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, California,aren't suffering through economics the way I did. Through theVirtual Enterprise program, a select group of students are learningthe theories and principles behind economics by doing.During the course of the 2002-2003 school year, the 30 students inMarie Wake's economics class have been developing ParagonPublishing, the publisher of Flip, an e-zine featuring content forboys and girls.
"It was a new experience, and I thought it would teach memore than a regular class," says Elizabeth Duckworth, an ElToro senior and CEO of Paragon. Students in the class, who take oneyear of economics rather than one semester, learn the basics ofeconomics from a standard textbook, then put all those theoriesinto practice running Paragon. The class not only handles thebusiness side of the magazine--with students running theaccounting, human resources and marketing portions of thepublisher--but they also create content and art for the magazineand sell virtual ads and subscriptions.
Virtual Enterprises operate at high schools throughout theworld, giving students business experience through the creation ofa simulated business. Paragon Publishing is part of a network ofCalifornia high school enterprises that conduct commerce together,buying and selling products from one another to benefit eachenterprise's bottom line. The schools also attend trade shows,where they can win awards for different aspects of theirbusinesses. Paragon has been recognized for its employee manual andtrade show display.
In March, Paragon had an open house, welcoming students fromother classes to learn how the publisher and class worked. CEODuckworth and her staff of vice presidents each gave a shortpresentation to explain their duties and responsibilities.Afterward, Paragon employees sold Flip subscriptions tovisitors. Funds from these sales, as well as those done online, aredeposited into Paragon's virtual bank account and are used topay employees and cover expenses.
While a major benefit of the Virtual Enterprise program is togive students a cool way to learn economics, the classes are alsoinspiring and training future entrepreneurs. Duckworth plans tomajor in business when she attends college next year, and vicepresident of accounting Leo Galarza, a senior who first studiedaccounting through El Toro's ROP program, is interested ininternational business and accounting.
A new group of students will be enrolled in Wake's classnext year and will have the option of continuing with Paragon orcreating a new virtual enterprise.
"[This experience] is going to help me a lot," saysMegan Lencek, Paragon's vice president of human resources, whoplans on studying business, among other subjects, when she beginsattending college next year. "I've learned to bediplomatic; I know how to listen to people."
