{"id":1317325,"date":"2019-12-18T17:23:21","date_gmt":"2019-12-19T00:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=991905"},"modified":"2019-12-18T17:23:21","modified_gmt":"2019-12-19T00:23:21","slug":"ja-course-teaches-glenwood-fourth-graders-what-it-takes-to-be-a-global-entrepreneur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/ja-course-teaches-glenwood-fourth-graders-what-it-takes-to-be-a-global-entrepreneur\/","title":{"rendered":"JA course teaches Glenwood fourth graders what it takes to be a global entrepreneur"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
At table, from left, Brody McDermott, Elliana Windholz and Emily Mojarro Sanchez, work to solve a problem as other student scurry to do the same during a Junior Achievement class supply chain exercise Dec. 11 in Marty Mazzotta’s fourth grade class as Sopris Elementary School.<\/strong>
John Stroud\/Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

A recent Wednesday at Sopris Elementary School saw a classroom of fourth-graders split up into small groups representing eight different countries around the world.<\/p>\n

The entrepreneurial task: Gather parts necessary to assemble and deliver a client\u2019s order for office computers \u2014 digital pens from Canada, keyboards from a supplier in the United States, screens from South Korea, speakers from Germany, hard drives from Mexico, power supplies from Ireland, mouse accessories from Japan, printers from Brazil, and software, memory cards, fans and video cards from China.<\/p>\n

Wait \u2013 there\u2019s a problem.<\/p>\n

Seems there\u2019s been a fire at the digital pen manufacturing facility in Canada, and they can\u2019t deliver the order.<\/p>\n

The Sopris students begin scrambling from table to table, networking to see if they can acquire the parts elsewhere, or otherwise proceed until it\u2019s available.<\/p>\n

One of the enterprising students, Clay Hesse, has an idea \u2014 why not see if there\u2019s a supplier who could provide finger pens on short order, instead of using digital pens?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one idea among many, as the students circle back to discuss how they worked together to assess the risks and rewards of the various options before coming up with a solution.<\/p>\n

One student said the inability to obtain the crucial part made him nervous about whether the company would be able to fulfill the order.<\/p>\n

Another worried about losing customers as a result, and that the company would fail and go out of business.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like that it isn\u2019t just fun and games,\u201d Hesse said of the five-week Junior Achievement \u201cOur Region\u201d sessions that he and his classmates participated in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what actually happens in life,\u201d Hesse said. \u201cIf you want to become an entrepreneur you have to know this kind of stuff. I now know a lot more about expenses and losses and resources, and lots of other stuff \u2026 and you have to keep them all balanced.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
Sopris Elementary School fourth-graders, foreground from left, Gissel Andrade-Parada, Orrin Ruonavaara, Valeria Carrillo Rivas, Arianna Aguilar, Brody McDermott and Sean Waldron, participate in the global business exercise as part of the Junior Achievement course.<\/strong>
John Stroud\/Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Ian Exelbert, chief operating officer for Glenwood Insurance Company, is one of several volunteer Junior Achievement teachers in the local schools.<\/p>\n

JA is the nation\u2019s largest organization dedicated to educating K-12 students about entrepreneurship, work readiness and financial literacy through hands-on programs focused on business economics.<\/p>\n

Exelbert chose to teach Our Region to Marty Mazzotta\u2019s fourth-grade class this fall, partly because his son, Tyler, is in that class.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about giving back, mostly,\u201d he said, \u201c\u2026 and being involved in my own kid\u2019s schooling and development.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to use some of my experience and knowledge to really drive home the points of the program and apply real-life examples.\u201d<\/p>\n

The five-part class walked students through some of the fundamentals of being an entrepreneur, how to utilize and manage capital, human and natural resources and problem-solving.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of this is good to have a knowledge about for life in general, like problem-solving skills and thinking through things,\u201d Exelbert said.<\/p>\n

On the way to drop Tyler and his older brother off at their respective schools one recent morning, he used the example of getting around the 27th Street Bridge closure to make it on time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough to make those decisions sometimes,\u201d Exelbert said.<\/p>\n

Local entrepreneurs were also invited to talk to the class and offer their perspectives, including Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park and Iron Mountain Hot Springs owner Steve Beckley.<\/p>\n

Along the way, Tyler, Clay and their classmates went through a mock exercise of starting up a hot dog stand. They learned who their likely customers would be and how to reach them through advertising, and how to juggle profit and loss.<\/p>\n

The final session, where they had to order parts for the computers, focused on global entrepreneurship and how to work the supply chain. <\/p>\n

Another of the students, Arianna Aguilar, said the class helped her learn more about how her father runs his ice cream business.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe tries really hard to balance the money, so we can have money for our expenses and for the business,\u201d she said. \u201cI learned about being an entrepreneur and the struggles and rewards \u2026 and just the value of trying to be an entrepreneur.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
Key characteristics of a successful entrepreneur (John Stroud photo)<\/strong>
JrAchievement-gpi-121919-3<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Classroom teacher Mazzotta said the JA class content includes a lot of tangibles in the students\u2019 general learning.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt introduces them to lots of vocabulary, which is the biggest equalizer,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you can grow kids\u2019 vocabulary, they become better readers and better writers.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, much of the content will be included on the state tests in social studies this spring.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest piece is that it makes them a life-long learner, so they know about how to start a business and be an entrepreneur, if that\u2019s what they want to do,\u201d Mazzotta said. \u201cAnd, it\u2019s about becoming a great citizen of Glenwood Springs and of the world, because we see how we\u2019re all interconnected.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the end of the five-week course last week, each student was presented with a certificate of completion and a \u201c$1 million\u201d chocolate bar.<\/p>\n

jstroud@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At table, from left, Brody McDermott, Elliana Windholz and Emily Mojarro Sanchez, work to solve a problem as other student scurry to do the same during a Junior Achievement class supply chain exercise Dec. 11 in Marty Mazzotta’s fourth grade class as Sopris Elementary School.John Stroud\/Post Independent A recent Wednesday at Sopris Elementary School saw […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1317325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-06 08:21:02","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1317325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317325\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1317325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1317325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1317325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}