Budding entrepreneurs head for a national stage
Bremen, Oak Forest students will compete in DECA competition next month, showcasing business acumen
By Michelle Mullins
Ametrion Johnson Brown, a junior at Oak Forest High School, helps run the school’s coffee shop, the Bengal Bean, where students develop a menu, manage inventory, test new products and handle the finances.
“We try to have a Starbucks mentality, but we run it as a mom-and-pop shop,” said Johnson Brown, 17.
Johnson Brown is one of several students in Bremen High School District 228, which includes Oak Forest and Bremen high schools, who will showcase their business acumen and compete in the national DECA competition in Orlando, Florida, next month.
These two high schools were the only ones in Illinois to receive gold-star status for both retail operations and food service enterprises, district officials said. There are five school-based enterprises in Illinois this year that either received their gold-star certifications or earned recertification, four of which belong to District 228.
DECA prepares students for future careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management. Students learn business concepts as well as how to be effective leaders. They pitch their business ideas in front of judges and are scored on how well they compete.
“Instead of memorize this or do that, this gives us real-life experience,” Johnson Brown said. “It’s a really good experience. It feels like I’m helping my school and my community.”
The school-based enterprises and the DECA program help prepare students for college and careers, said Katie Gomez, the DECA sponsor at Oak Forest High School.The enterprises provide realistic and practical learning and are managed and operated by the students.
“It’s a lot of work,” Gomez said. “My students are learning by doing. You are not really learning the skills unless you are performing them.”
Earning the gold-star certification required the team to write a more than 50-page paper in which they analyzed all aspects of their business, Gomez said. The group runs promotions, takes inventory, develops new ideas, sets prices and handles staffing, and they face the same challenges as small-business owners in the “real world,” Gomez said.
The school also operates the Busy B’s T-shirt printing and poster printing business, which has gold-star certification, Gomez said.
Todd Strein, the DECA sponsor for Bremen High School in
Midlothian, said of 27 students who competed at the state competitions eight qualified in the top 10 in their events and five qualified for the national competition.
Their school-managed stores, the Braves Zone and Bremen Boutique, also have a gold-star certification.
Strein said the students learn more than just how to operate a business. They learn how to speak professionally, how to create a positive first impression, how to dress and how to present themselves.
The school store, which operates from 6:30 a.m.-4 p.m. daily, became so successful the students began working concessions for extracurricular activities, such as football games, volleyball matches and the school play, Strein said.
The students in the DECA
program do at least 95% of the work, he said, while he provides guidance and support.
“The kids love to know what they are doing is real,” Strein said. “It’s not hypothetical; it’s theirs.
“They want to be successful.”
At the national competition more than 20,000 students from around the country, as well as Canada, Puerto Rico, England, China and Japan, will present projects in a variety of business competitions.
National qualifiers for Bremen High School include Sophia Pritchett, Yoseline De La Rosa, Carla Sanchez, Marijane Guilfoyle and Raul Castaneda.
National qualifiers for Oak Forest High School include Johnson Brown as well as Landon Boger, Destiny Guereca, Ella Kalnins, Ella O’Brien and Madelyn Sears.
Competitors at the state competition included Bremen students Elina Aguilar, Isabella Estrada, Anna Ceja, Celeste Cisneros, Andrea Orozco and Michelle Ramos, who all placed in the top 10 in their categories.
Oak Forest brought home 19 medals at state.
Other participants were Roisin Giblin, Lizzie King, Madison Levsay, Katie Lis, Morgan Nielsen, Noelani Perales, Stephanie Santangelo, Michael Short, Molly Walsh and Hailey Wesner.