George Freeman School's entrepreneurship 9 class held their market last week to put all the skills they learned to the test during their class. The market was a great success, as the 6 student created businesses raised $1500. Entrepreneurship 9 teacher Zane Anderson explained all the money is going to a good cause.

"We sold $1500 worth of products in 50 minutes and every group chose a charity. At the Christmas break all the money is going to be donated and given to all the charities in town because that's part of our school: giving back to the community, action in our world, and connecting to communities. It follows the pillars and values of our school, so it was a really good experience for the kids," he said.

Outside of the obvious benefit of raising money for charity, Anderson said the class and market is also a huge hit with students for all the valuable skills it teaches. 

"It's usually a big hit, the entrepreneurship class at our school because they get to do unique things like this. Kids always say in school 'why do I have to learn this? I'm not going to use this in the real world.'  In entrepreneurship, everything we do, kids will at some point in their life have to use, so I think they see the value in it."

Anderson added the class teaches many intangible skills that you may not get from a standard class where it's more textbook and test-taking-based. With this class, you learn how to present yourself and reach out to people, confidence, time management, and more.

The class and market wouldn't be possible without support from local businesses, as Anderson explained the students reached out to local businesses for donations to help them purchase what they needed. For example, a student business selling shaved ice would reach out to businesses for donations to buy what they needed.

The grade 8 entrepreneurship class will also be having its market soon. Anderson expects it to be at the end of January, although no date is set yet.

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