Students sell their wares

Life lessons in the marketplace teach about business, By Jennifer Knocha Vernon — Vernon’s youngest entrepreneurs took the stage at Lounsberry Hollow Middle School recently, as a group of sixth-graders held their TREP$ Marketplace. This flea market style event is the finale of a program that educates students on the skills needed to start their own business and then gives them a chance to put their studies into action when they run their own businesses for one night. The marketplace ran from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. with a special segment for the students themselves to shop. Over 50 students have taken part in the program, and in twos and threes, came up with 23 different enterprises. Students were selling everything from T-shirts to baked goods, with duct tape wallets, dog cookies and water guns coming in between. Jenna MacDonald’s homemade magnets turned out to be a popular item, selling out in the first hour. The students also got to learn about advertising. They created ads for the flyers announcing the event. They learned about marketing as they set up their own booths and attracted patrons, and they learned about being charitable. The more than $100 in proceeds earned at the event was designated to charities. One students donated all of her earnings to a Lounsberry Hollow teacher who participates in the Avon walk for Brast Cancer. The marketplace was organized by parent Barbara Monschuaer and the SCA, with the help of the Lounsberry Hollow Middle School staff and teachers and of course, the parents and guardians of the students. For information about TREP$, the entrepreneurship educational program for children, visit www.trepsed.com.