As March approaches, the senior students currently taking Economics & Personal Finance prepare for the biannual business fair. From glitter tattoos to keychains, trading cards, games of chance and fortune telling, Economics students always show up and show out. This is an excellent way for students to express creativity through designing their products while simultaneously being immersed in a real-world business simulation.
Students carefully crafted their business plans in order to create successful merchandise. After being given the rubric, they could either choose to be a sole proprietorship (working alone), a partnership (working with a partner) or a corporation (working in groups of three).
First, the seniors came up with fun names, slogans, posters and logos for their businesses. Business names such as “Make it or Bank it,” “Toadally Folded,” “Nitro Beasts” and “Knot Today” were featured on bright poster boards. Afterwards, the students completed a detailed multi-page business plan, evaluating their competition, pricing and inputs.
On Mar. 12, students set up their stands with a common goal in mind: to attract the most customers. Each period had three rounds of selling in which different class periods were rotated in and out. These were supposed to simulate three different business years, allowing students to see the ebb and flow of real-world supply and demand. This pushed the entrepreneurs to adapt– changing their pricing often throughout the fair. Katie Biddle (‘25) reflects on the demand for fortune readings at her stand “Akinator Enterprise.”
“We began at three dollars because it takes about two minutes to read each customer’s fortune, and we thought anything less would not be profitable,” she said. “We ended up switching between two and three dollars during the fair, usually starting at three with each business cycle then going down to two as customer interest decreased.”
Money proved to be a significant factor in this business environment, with buyers starting with ten fake dollars each. This made many hesitant to purchase items priced at more than a few dollars, especially with so many options to explore. Some sellers, like Aleena Rosenzweig (‘25), had a variety of prices for her teacher trading cards.
“For our Trading Cards, I charged based on years of teaching, so $1 for Rookies (1-5 years), $2 for Seasoned (6-10 years), $3 for Professionals (11-15 years) and $4 for Legends (16+ years),” she said. “I also offered a special deal of three random cards for $5 and $1 for an entry into a raffle for three people to win a card each.”
Thinking through the pricing of goods and services is an integral part of their economics curriculum, and mastering this skill paid off for many. “Offering a random card bundle and raffle entry also encourages larger purchases and adds an element of fun and surprise, making the cards more desirable. The response was amazing because the cards sold themselves since there weren’t any like them. I made over $230 by the end and teachers were still interested in buying when the fair was over.”
(Sophie Meekins)
Similar to Rosenzweig, many other sellers had multiple products and price points. Norah Grokhowsky (‘25) had a variety of fun pipe-cleaner flowers for buyers to choose from at her station, “The Bloom Bar.”
“Our product was different from others at the fair because we made ours customizable. Most of the other stands had the same exact product they were selling, but we gave people the option to create their own unique bouquets,” she commented. “We decided to price each bouquet that consisted of 3 flowers for $4 and we priced individual flowers at $2. We chose to do this because most kids felt like they weren’t spending all their money on our stand, making them more likely to buy from us.”
However, there were many ways to draw buyers in, despite their initial money-conscious hesitancy. Not only did this fair demonstrate the necessity of having a well-thought-out product and detailed business plan, but it also showed students how to become adept at marketing and salesmanship. Those who were outgoing, inviting, and – most importantly, convincing – were the most successful at turning a “profit.”
To accomplish this, the students worked on the presentation of their stands and their sales pitches. As Grokhowsky states, “We designed our station by making it very aesthetically pleasing. We put out fake flowers, fairy lights, and other little floral decorations to help us attract more people. We really enjoyed interacting with other kids at our school to try to convince them to buy our product.”
Katie Biddle had a similar goal at “Akinator Enterprise,” “For our set up, we had a poster in front of the table, plus our tarot cards and fortune envelopes laid neatly out on the top,” she said. “We were hoping to catch customers’ attention by displaying our goods and making them curious about their fortune.”
This project also helped her realize the importance of marketing, as she comments, “I didn’t realize how quickly my business needed to grab students’ attention before they walked off. This experience made me realize that it is better to be attention-grabbing with our poster/advertisement, that way people are not left unsure about what our product is or its value.”
The sellers at the Green Hope spring semester business fair agreed that this was an invaluable experience. “We definitely learned how to market more efficiently and how to work as a team when dividing up roles in a business,” commented Grokhowsky. “This project definitely helped stimulate what it’s like running a real business and how much effort goes into planning, producing, and selling a product.
Overall, the business fair is an excellent opportunity for seniors to gain experience in the many aspects of a business. All of this before they head out into the real world, following their graduation this upcoming spring. This practical, hands-on approach teaches Green Hope’s future entrepreneurs valuable lessons about supply and demand, innovation, marketing, resource management and competition.
