By Stacey Wells ’15

Groups of students from the entrepreneurship class have recently been selling Sherwood merchandise, such as sunglasses, sweatpants and t-shirts. This is a required project for Entrepreneurship and the project will later be turned into a grade. The students’ grade will be determined by how much merchandise they sell. Once students receive money for their merchandise, they must turn it into the business office to pay back any expenses. Then, the students are allowed to split the leftover money between group members.

“I love that we can keep the money … it’s a great incentive,” said junior Sam Berger.

This class, taught by Pamela Johnson, includes many projects, all of which teach students how to successfully run a business. “It’s all about learning how to own your own business … from location to raising and handling money … to staffing,” said Johnson. Besides the Sherwood merchandise project, there are other interesting assignments, such as a computer simulation of a business and having to run a pretend convenience store.

Johnson appreciates that the class is very hands-on and realistic. “It’s not all read a book, do a worksheet, take a test,” said Johnson. “They form their own companies and have to run it.”

Many students enjoy the method of teaching found in this class, as it models real-life after high school. “It gives everyone a chance to see the whole of being an entrepreneur is not just learning from a textbook,” said Berger.