Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Students speak at Exton Chamber lunch
Downingtown students reflected on their business skills and challenges they faced during internships.
Downingtown students reflect on their business skills and challenges they faced during internships.
One of the strongest partnerships the Downingtown Area School District said it has is with the Exton Chamber of Commerce. Members of the chamber serve as mentors and have created internships and job shadowing opportunities for students.
The chamber hosted a luncheon Tuesday featuring six Downingtown high school students. Olivia Hunt, Kianna Ly, Shell Sarda and Selia Koss from Downingtown East High School and Max Minnier from Downingtown West High School were the special guest speakers. Dominic Hesel of Downingtown East was the day’s videographer.
The Exton Chamber’s Business and Education subgroup has worked with the school district’s high school business departments for several years to help students get a handson look at the business world. Several years ago, with a $500 start-up loan from Franklin Mint Credit Union and a group of business leaders in the community volunteering to serve as mentors, students at East and West created a company, decided on a product to sell, ordered the product, marketed it and sold it. Each year they made enough money from their efforts to repay the loan and donate an amount to a local charity.
Senior Shell Sarda told the luncheon gathering that as chief operating officer last year of East’s corporation, Cougar Corps, he experienced the excitement of raising more than $3,500 for Cougar Corps’ chosen charity, but deeply felt the challenges his team faced when a carnival they had planned had to be cancelled due to unexpected price points and “haphazard” planning.
“But even that failed carnival has been helpful. It helped us all learn about the decisionmaking process and the importance of working as a team,” Shell said. “We learned, as Walt Disney once said, to ‘quit talking and begin doing.’”
Kiana Ly, a junior at DHS East, attended the Pennsylvania Free Enterprise Week (PFEW) this summer on a scholarship given by the Exton Chamber. PFEW brings students together for a week of internships, speeches and business
challenges. Ly spoke of the challenges she faced that week: meeting new people, sharing responsibilities with strangers and putting those strangers to work as a strong team. Ly had set her college goal on obtaining a major in a science field, but following her week at PFEW, she is now planning to add business classes to her schedule.
Max Minnier was a freshman when he became involved in the entrepreneurial program at West last year. He was the chief financial officer of the group that decided to create “Whippet
Wear” for their project. The group produced two items, wrist bands and lanyards. Whippet Wear held a dodge ball tournament to raise more money for their chosen charity. He too shared his appreciation for learning the business basics and audience members laughed when he noted that selling lanyards to his age group was possible, but wristbands were not.
East students Olivia Hunt and Selia Koss spoke about their experiences working with an Exton Chamber member as interns. Koss has helped the chamber with their annual golf outing. Hunt has interned for Brenda March of March Forward Consulting as her social media expert. Hunt
wants to become a screen writer because of her love of writing and March has given her a chance to use those writing skills as the firm’s blogger.
Noelle Wiggins, a 2014 DHS East graduate and Exton Business Education Partnerships, was present. She attended one of the first career nights organized by East College and Career Center Advisor Christine Wick. She admired a presentation by speakers Maureen Bails and she sent Bails a thank you note. This gesture was so appreciated that Bails called her and quickly invited her to intern with her for her consulting firm. Wiggins attends Drexel University where she has been selected to work in
Drexel’s School of Entrepreneurships. Noelle also runs two businesses that she created.
Teacher Kristina Hunt told of another alumnus from the program: 2015 East graduate Austin LeMalefant who recently opened a branch of Chocolate Moonshine, a gourmet chocolate store, at the King of Prussia Mall. In addition to attending college, Austin tries to work three days in afternoon during the week in his store, as well as all day on Saturday and Sunday. In his spare time, he attends trade shows and networks with other area business owners as he tries to increase interest in his store, which he hopes is just the first of many.