CHILDREN OF INVENTION
Students to sell their creations at kids’ business fair
Students must generate an idea for a product, create it, develop a logo, determine how to market and advertise it, and then sell it, Giandurco said.
BETHEL — When Beatrice Lipp was in preschool, she was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a disease that causes inflammation of the colon.
For more than five years, she was in and out of the hospital. Essential oils helped reduce her pain.
“It would feel good on my skin and I would feel better,” said Lipp, 12. “I felt a lot more grounded.”
This experience inspired the Workspace Education student to create her own line of organic beauty products, called Patushe by Beatrice.
The products will be among the inventions on sale during a children’s business fair from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at Workspace Education, a nontraditional learning center in Bethel’s Clarke Business Park.
While the organization often holds events featuring student-created
work, this is the first time the program is open to non-Workspace children. Between 35 to 40 students, ages 6 to 18, are expected to display and sell their products to the public.
“It’s going to be a really fun day,” said Vincent Giandurco, spokesman for Workspace, which is open to students who are homeschooled or children who do not excel in traditional school.
The fair ties in perfectly with Workspace’s emphasis on building “real-world skills” and efforts to encourage students to be the creative and independent thinkers that Connecticut needs, Giandurco said.
“We keep saying we need new businesses, we need more entrepreneurs, and we really believe that, too,” he said. “We believe every learner should have their own entrepreneurial bend.”
Students must generate an idea for a product, create it, develop a logo, determine how to market and advertise it, and then sell it, Giandurco said. The kids keep all the earnings, but some choose to donate the money.
In the past, students have created purses, intricate birdhouses and miniature cars, Giandurco said. A pair of boys once earned $650 selling their cookies, he said.
The majority of the students participating in this fair go to Workspace, but Giandurco said he hopes more children from the outside community will participate in future events.
A fair like this is one of the reasons Heather Encinia and her family moved from Virginia to Bethel to attend Acton Academy, the micro-school within Workspace.
“It gives them something to really connect to and to work toward, where they get to find something that they feel that is fun and engaging for them,” Encinia said. “We leave here at the end of the day and they're so excited to get home and continuing working on their projects.”
Her daughter Madison, 11, made dreamcatchers for the fair, while her son Brandon, 9, created origami pieces.
“They're doing the research,” Encinia said. “They're experiencing these moments of failure or of obstacles, where they figure out a way. It builds that resilience in them.”
Lipp’s products have been displayed in Workspace’s private showcases and public marketplaces. Her line has grown to include seven to 10 products, such as bath bombs, lip balm and hand scrub. This weekend’s fair will feature her new dish soap and dishwashing tablets, and she plans to create laundry detergent this summer.
Using a variety of essential oils, shea butter, beeswax and more, Lipp creates the items at home or at the science lab at Workspace.
“It’s all organic because we want to keep everything clean,” said Lipp, who has been going to Workspace since it opened about two years ago.
She experiments with the materials and often tests the products on those at Workspace.
“It can be challenging at times,” Lipp said. “You have to be a bit patient, learn what works, what doesn’t work.”