Students create business, aid nonprofit
Young women at Incarnate Word donate money to community autism program
Students in a high school business class recently raised $800 for a nonprofit community program that helps young adults with autism and other mental disabilities learn to navigate life.
The 18 Incarnate Word Academy students who took the semester-long Leading with Business course created and operated a small business and donated profits to Summerhouse, a nonprofit based in Houston’s Heights community.
The course is part of the private, all-girls Catholic school’s Young Leaders Program, a series of four courses designed to help empower young women to lead and serve. Leadership development
The program consists of courses on leadership development and provides students with opportunities to practice what they learn, said Sister Lauren Beck, president of the Catholic school.
“The Leading with Business (course) is part of a bigger program,” she said, and it is the latest class added to the school’s leadership curriculum.
The academy’s leadership program is conducted in collaboration with Wharton
School of the University of Pennsylvania and includes modules on idea generation, marketing, pricing strategies, operations, financials, cost accounting and presentation skills.
Through the program, students are required to create a formal business plan and present their idea to local Wharton alums.
It is the private school’s version of television’s business pitch show, “Shark Tank,” Beck said.
The goal of the program, she said, is to help the students learn to think from a different perspective, as leaders and not simply as managers.
“What they learn from the (Leading with Business) course and all of the other courses in the leadership program empowers them to take risks, to learn from setbacks, to look at options, the value of working together and the value of hard work, etc.,” Beck said.
Lemon Chill
Students in the school’s Leading with Business class created Lemon Chill, a lemonade stand that operated during school lunch periods.
In addition to serving lemonade, Lemon Chill served a raspberry soda lemonade.
The student-run business was open for eight days in April and made $100 each day.
The lemonade stand operated twice a week selling to the school community.
Leading with Business was added to the leadership program, said Charles Kafoglis, the school’s director of character and leadership, to merge character education, leadership practices and business innovation.
The course vision, he said, is for each new class to create and operate a different student-run business each year.
Some of those businesses could potentially live on and become ongoing entities, Kafoglis added.
“In leadership and business, class knowledge only goes so far,” he said.
“A real-life business, with real goals (to help fund Summerhouse activities), and risks is essential in moving students from rote knowledge to inspiring possibilities.
“The business sparks their imagination in a way a class environment cannot.”
Kafoglis said there is an increasing awareness among educators that character and leadership skills are needed in a competitive and globally connected world.
Shortage of leaders
“There is a shortage of leaders who understand that organizational success requires constant transformation, which is best led by those who are more than just competent but who lead with their values — in our case, faith-based values,” he said.
“As an all-girls school, we have a particular mission to help meet the demand for female voices at all levels of leadership.”
Hannah Tello, 18, was among the school’s students who elected to take the leadership program’s courses.
She helped design and build the lemonade stand, which was done during the school’s Easter break with help from her father.
“We collected the wood from the city of Houston Reuse Warehouse, a warehouse where nonprofit organizations can collect recycled materials for free,” Tello said.
“Once the wood was collected, we built it in two days. Then my friends and I painted it at IWA.”
She also helped make the product and sell it. Students made their drink products in the mornings and sold them during lunch.
During the Leading with Business class, Tello participated in brainstorming other possible business ideas and learned key concepts about business in general.
She participated in interviewing a small business located in the Heights. Students were asked to research a business and answer questions that would help them connect realworld business concepts to class lessons.
“I interviewed one of my favorite boutiques, Emerson Rose,” Tello said.
“I am thankful and appreciate that the owner of the boutique was willing to let me interview here and ask her questions about her business.
“It was very eye-opening, and I loved the experience.”
Collaboration needed
Her takeaway from the class, she said, is that opening and running a business requires a lot of collaboration to be successful because of multiple ideas and innovations.
“Making the lemonade stand really opened my eyes to leadership because I was able to lead the group in taking action, stepping up to the plate and was able to create an aesthetically appealing and functional lemonade stand,” Tello said.
She has since graduated from Incarnate Word Academy, and she believes the experience she gained in the school’s leadership program will be useful when she attends the University of Houston-Honors College and becomes an active participant in campus organizations and class projects.
“Overall I am so thankful that I was able to take the Leading with Business class,” Tello said.
“It was a unique and fun experience, and I am glad that our business was not only beneficial to my educational experiences but also to the teenagers and young adults we helped from Summerhouse.”
Fun Fridays
Donna Fruge, president and founder of Summerhouse, was on hand last month for a check presentation of the leadership class’ proceeds.
The funds, she said, will be used to sponsor four of the nonprofit’s Fun Fridays community activities.
Every Friday of each week, Summerhouse staff take its members out in the community to participate in events, eat at local restaurants and shop at locally owned businesses.
It is part of Summerhouse’s curriculum of community integration.
“Community integration is the opportunity to live, work and play in the community and be valued for one’s uniqueness and abilities, like everyone else,” Fruge said.
“This results in community presence and participation with others without a ‘disability label.’ ”
Incarnate Word Academy’s leadership program students didn’t just start and run a business generating the $800 donation to Summerhouse.
Last spring, several of the students volunteered to weed, paint, clean and provide program support at the nonprofit.
The leadership program at Incarnate Word Academy did more than provide student’s the basics of running and operating a business, Fruge said.
“Interacting, working with and getting to know the Summerhouse members gives these young people an opportunity to see them more as equals and having the same dreams, hopes and future expectations as they have in spite of their disability,” she added.
For more information on Incarnate Word Academy, 609 Crawford St., go to https://incarnateword. org/ or call 713-227-3637.
“What they (students) learn from the (Leading with Business) course and all of the other courses in the leadership program empowers them to take risks, to learn from setbacks, to look at options, the value of working together and the value of hard work, etc.” Sister Lauren Beck, president of Incarnate Word Academy