The Providence Journal
Bryant University marketing major Heather Dalke watches the progress of, from left, McKinley Odom, Vin Yean and Kevin Hernandez at the San Miguel School. The students were asked to develop a fictional product and create a mock business.
The Providence Journal / Kris Craig
Students at the San Miguel School work on their designs for a multi-platform iPod. Bryant University sponsored a business simulation project for seventh-graders.
The Providence Journal / Kris Craig
PROVIDENCE — Move over, Donald Trump. Make room for the latest set of savvy entrepreneurs — a bunch of seventh graders from the San Miguel School.
Three students from Bryant University asked Miss Wentworth’s class to develop a fictional product, a whiz-bang version of Apple computer’s wildly popular personal music device, the iPod. The college students belong to a national community service organization called Students in Free Enterprise, which informs the public about basic business strategies.
“We’re teaching students how to start and run a business,” said Jeff Waldon, a sophomore at Bryant. “We asked them to redesign the iPod by adding new features. We asked them to keep in mind the cost of the item, the target audience and research and development. In the end, we’ll do a survey to see what the kids learned.”
Located in Elmwood, the San Miguel School is a private all-boys middle school run by the Christian Brothers. The students come from Providence, Pawtucket, Cranston and Central Falls, and most of them rely on scholarships to attend the school, which has 63 boys in grades 5 through 8.
In Miss Wentworth’s class Monday, one group of boys (we’ll call them Team One) designed the ultimate pocket-sized personal electronic device, complete with DVD and CD capability, text messaging, a pop-up screen and a wireless Internet connection. For this team, the biggest challenge was what to leave out.
“It has to be waterproof,” one student said.
“We have to customize the skin,” said another.
“How about a fingerprint scan for security?” said a third member of the team.
Then Heather Dalke, a marketing major at Bryant, provided a reality check. If you are selling the iPod to teenagers, it can’t be too expensive, she said.
Itemize each feature, then figure out what it will cost to produce the device. Set your profit margin before creating a sales price.
Team 1 huddled. Maybe we should get rid of one of the screens, one student suggested. After a brief discussion, the boys decided that the fingerprint scan would drive up the cost of the iPod making it too expensive for the average teenager.
The next task was to come up with a name for the new iPod. The boys tossed around a handful of possibilities, from Techno to Zen. What about Master Media?
“That’s cool,” the team’s CEO, McKinley Odom, said. “It has, you know, iteration.”
“You mean alliteration,” someone added.
Odom began sketching the prototype, a camouflage design in deep purple and blue with a description of the various features along the sides. “We want something eye-catching,” another team member, Diego Guevara, said.
Earlier in the day, the Bryant students provided a primer on basic business terminology. What is finance? How do we obtain money for our product? What is the break-even point? What are the four Ps of marketing? (Price, product, place and promotion.)
“We’re trying to get kids to think like an entrepreneur,” Waldron said.
“It’s fun to see what the kids have to say,” said Michelle Lynn, a sophomore at Bryant. “These are skills they can use in the future. Hopefully, they will understand more about how business works.”
The San Miguel business-simulation class is just 1 of 15 projects that Students in Free Enterprise have planned for this academic year.
At the end of the school year, Bryant will participate in a national competition to select the best mock business project. Last year, Bryant students developed community projects that focused on women and leadership, minority businesses and school-based entrepreneurship classes.
“It’s fun to see what the kids have to say. These are skills they can use in the future. Hopefully, they will understand more about how business works.”
Michelle Lynn
sophomore at Bryant
“It’s fun to see what the kids have to say. These are skills they can use in the future. Hopefully, they will understand more about how business works.”
Michelle Lynn
sophomore at Bryant