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Columbus Signature Academy-Business Extravaganza

The Republic

Biz project puts learning in new light

The Issue:
Columbus Signature Academy at Central Middle School’s Business Extravaganza

 
Our Position:
This real-world project not only excited students to learn academic content but also gave them self-confidence and showed them the relevance of education.
CHALLENGING seventh-graders to launch businesses, unlocked a love of learning for many and instilled confidence in talents they were unaware they had.
Roughly 110 students at Columbus Signature Academy in Central Middle Schools recently worked in teams to bring businesses from plan to product. The students showcased their fledgling companies at the school’s inaugural Business Extravaganza.

Building on age-appropriate expertise, the young entrepreneurs presented services ranging from leaf raking and babysitting to golf lessons and slumber party planning.
The endeavor is but one example of the work being tackled in Columbus’ three Signature Academies, focusing on projectbased learning.

Unlike traditional classroom instruction that asks students to complete end-of-unit projects to show mastery, project-based learning begins by presenting students with a real-world task and challenging them to learn necessary core concepts along the way.
 

Tying the Business Extravaganza project to state academic standards, students used their businesses to identify target clients, explore business plans, create startup cost equations, predict profit, design advertising, learn persuasion techniques and more.

Some students said the project helped them for the first time feel excited about learning various subjects.
Though many of the estimated 150 attendees at the Business Extravaganza included students’ friends and family members, the evening’s profits indicate the viability and quality of the businesses.

As teams’ profits ranged from $10 to more than $100, the seventh-graders’ confidence soared as they realized the value of their talents and abilities.

Some participants noted that the project taught them that their future jobs can be a joy.

The Business Extravaganza undoubtedly ignited a fire in a few students who now are on paths toward entrepreneurship.

For a greater number of participants, the project served as a catalyst to help them believe in whatever dreams they might follow and realize the joy in the education that will get them there.

Teachers and schools finding these creative ways to excite students about learning are to be commended.