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Posted March 10th, 2010 by wilcox  |
In 1999 Americans for the Competitive Enterprise System(ACES) added Pennsylvania Business Week(PBW) to one of its many economic education programs. PBW is a one-week, in-school program that teaches students involved about the American economic system. Not only does PBW teach about the American economic system it also teaches students important business concepts and principals.
Business week is begun by dividing students into management teams and having these students run their own “business.” They have a week to complete everything needed to have a successful business. The students work every period of everyday that week to simulate running their business for 12 quarters. Not only do they run this business but they have to make all key decisions including pricing, marketing, production, and research and development.
The end of the week is the most vital part of the entire week for the students because it involves presentations to judges. The students compete in five different competitions including advertising, stockholders, trade-show, return on net assets(RONA) and top company. In Cambridge Spring High School the students are competing with each different group for their chance to win one-hundred dollars each. The winning group are not the only ones who receive prizes for their incredible talent in the business field, the winners of each division do as well. Each winner of the five competitions receive prizes of their own and honorable mentions are also handed out. Even though the prizes are what the students are mainly working for, PBW has more important benefits than just the awards. PBW is an educational experience for the students and teaches them important business skills that they will use the rest of their lives.
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11:19
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Mar
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Posted March 10th, 2010 by landers |
Every year, the sophomore class participates in a simulation of everyday life in the business world for a week. Business Week is a fantastic opportunity for students to learn about corporations and how they work. Throughout the week, the students are introduced to real business people who teach them about ethical values and how to handle their finances or RONA.
B. Bidwell and K. Kenny working on BW flag.
Mrs. McEwen’s group for the week named their company ‘Go Nutz Wireless’ and developed an amazing cell-phone. Along with their advisor, Ken Lindberg, Go Nutz Wireless, a division of Northwestern Rec, elected A. Friel as their CEO. As CEO, Friel said, “I oversee what everyone is
Prototype of the Simon
doing and help whenever I can.” Other elected members of the ‘brain trust’ of this company include: H. Hart (Vice President of Finance), A. McClelland (Vice President of Corporate
Employees of Go Nutz Wireless working diligently
Communications), B. Flick (Vice President of Advertising), B. Bidwell (Vice President of Sales and Marketing), and K. Kenny (Vice President of Manufacturing). Together, the employees of Go Nutz Wireless came up with a slogan, “We’re Everywhere!” and a logo to
Employees of Go Nutz Wireless making advertisements
promote their product. They also developed a smartphone called ‘the Simon’. The Simon is named after the intelligent chipmunk of the famous group ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’. The Simon Smartphone has a camera/video, G.P.S., mps, and games as well as increased memory. The building of the prototype for this amazing gadget was headed by A. Dodds.
Mrs. McEwen's classroom during the 2010 BW
After receiving the signature white t-shirts of Business Week, the Go Nutz Wireless team continued working. This group remained organized throughout the week. Some members worked on the door decorations while others designed the flag and website. The finance committee worked tirelessly on RONA and some members of the sales and marketing committee created name tags and business cards. On Wednesday, the employees of Go Nutz Wireless were finally ready to hang up their advertisements around the school for the benefit of the other students.
Advisor Ken Lindberg advising the students on RONA
The employees of Go Nutz Wireless welcomed the break from the monotony of school work. “We are enjoying Business Week, it is a good reprieve from school”, said one Business Week participant. The sophomores are also enjoying the presentations. Lon Wilson of the Meadville Tribune is one of the more entertaining speakers. The students were particularly entertained by their fellow students’ dance moves as they took the stage to promote Lon Wilson’s fictional product.
Members of finance committee working on RONA
After a week of working diligently, Go Nutz Wireless was anticipating the trade show. CEO Friel said that although they were falling behind on finances they hoped to make up for it by making good presentations during the stock holder, advertising and marketing competitions.
Mrs. McEwens’ group completed Business Week despite the snow and are going to make great entrepreneurs.
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11:18
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Mar
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Posted March 10th, 2010 by Knoedler |
A prototype of an EVO cell phone.
Cambridge Springs High School recently played host to its 5th annual Business Week. Sponsored by ACES (Americans for the Competitive Enterprise System), Business Week is a week-long competition that pits the sophomores against one another in a business-like atmosphere with a $100 cash prize on the line.
Led by CEO E. Dennis, CFO A. Walker, Faculty Advisor Mr. Grubbs, and Financial Advisor Mr. Waldemarson, EVO was one of three companies producing cell phones. They were a strong contender in the early quarters of RONA (Return On Net Assets), the financial part of the competition. On the first day, there was a scrimmage with the teams factoring numbers for what they would spend on production, advertising, and research and development on the “product”. By the end of the scrimmage, EVO dominated the other two cell phone companies.
“We didn’t know what to expect, but we did better than the other companies,” said Grubbs.
After getting their feet wet on the first day, EVO went headstrong into the “real” RONA competition. Despite their best efforts, they finished in 2nd place among the cell phone companies.
K. Culbertson and EVO Financial Advisor Mr. Waldemarson going over the recent RONA report.
Also during the second day, EVO, along with the five other companies, attended a business ethics meeting in the auditorium. There, the teams learned the ins-and-outs of proper business motives. They also played out “what would you do” scenarios, some more thought-provoking than others. One such question was: “Would you hire a woman who is five months pregnant knowing you will have to replace her in a few months?” Questions like these made the sophomores quiet in thought as they listened intently.
Wednesday opened a new can of worms for the sophomores as they played “Survivor”. No, not the television show but a game that gives the winning team extra supplies such as markers, scissors, and tape. After an intense competition, EVO came out as the winner.
Also on Wednesday, a special meeting was held for the CEO’s and CFO’s of all six companies. There, the CFO’s broke down finances with Val Laufenberg, the Executive Director of ACES. Val also talked about the dos-and-don’ts of a good finance presentation, saying that the teams should state more than what is on the sheet that is used in the presentation. She also said to elaborate on finances and use sophisticated words during the presentation as opposed to the normal teenage vocabulary that is typically used among high school students. Perhaps the most important part of the CEO-CFO meeting was when Val gave a rundown- a preview of sorts- of the stockholders presentation. This allowed the teams to get a feel of what they would be up against +during the official presentation.
On Thursday, Lon Wilson from the Meadville Tribune talked to the teams about presentation skills. He discussed the dos-and-don’ts of a presentation and stressed confidence to the students, noting that particular sales tactic is essential.
“Be confident,” Wilson said. “Anybody can buy, not everybody can sell. Know how to sell.”
As is the case with most of the speakers that the sophomores heard this week, Wilson believes that Business Week is important.
“Business Week is one of the best projects kids can be involved in,” he added.
Friday brought a judgment day of sorts for the companies in that all of their hard work would be put to the test through presentations. The most paramount of presentations: the trade show. At the trade show, the companies show off their product to the school and compete for “business.” EVO consistently had customers at their booth with salesmen and saleswomen ready to promote their cell phones.
At the end of the day on Friday was the awards ceremony. Anxiety was in the air as teams hoped their company would be called as the $100 Top Company winner. But, despite their best efforts, EVO was not named Top Company as that title went to MiWorld.
Top Company or not, the employees of EVO learned what the business world can be like during Business Week. The pieces of information that they learned during this competition may be worth more in the future than the $100 grand prize is now.
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11:18
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Mar
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Posted March 10th, 2010 by parker |
As sophomores, one thing that you always look forward to is that one week in February where you miss all your classes and get to stay late and eat pizza one night. No one ever really explains to you the true meaning of Business Week, probably because it’s a tough experience to explain. The lessons and memories that we (Jetka and Allison) took away from Business Week are ones that we won’t forget anytime soon.
On the first day of Business Week, you are divided into your teams by industries and divisions. Your company is assigned a product, a room where you’ll practically live for the next week, and advisors who will guide you through the surprisingly complicated task of running a business. You are assigned a role in the company that fits your personal interests and skills, and you begin naming your company and product.
While some names were more creative than others (If Allison had a dime for every time someone asked her what ‘What?’ was, she’d have $100 too!), every team had their strengths and weaknesses, and we learned that naming our companies was just one decision of many where we would need to learn to compromise and be open-minded. Another big decision was electing your company CEO. While Allison’s team, What?, elected B. Bish for the prestigious position at the head of the company, MiWorld, Jetka’s company, chose L. Lobdell to lead them to victory.
As the week progressed, we learned more about our teammates and the business world. One thing we both took away from the Business Week experience was that each person has something to contribute to the team, and it would take the participation and teamwork of each person to lead the company to the cash prize, and the ultimate bragging rights. But as the week wore on, we learned that it wasn’t all about the money, but also the feeling that you had contributed to your team - no matter how well you did, you were proud of what you had accomplished. While the whole week seemed to be about learning how to run the finances of a company, manufacturing your product, advertising to your target audience, or enjoying some really good food, there was much more to the week than that.
Various speakers were brought in to encourage us in our quest for the grand prize. We also watched a video about Pike’s Place Fish Market in Seattle, Washington, which inspired us to “find our fish in life.” In other words, even if you aren’t planning to be a CFO or vice president of sales and marketing when you enter the career world, you should choose a job that you love and makes you want to go to work each day.
In the end, all of our hard work was rewarded – What? Industries took away an honorable mention for the stockholder’s competition and first place in the trade show, while MiWorld won the stockholders and RONA (Return On Net Assets) competitions and honorable mentions in the advertising and marketing competition and the trade show, resulting in the coveted title of Top Company and the $100! But the money and prizes are not nearly as valuable as the experience that came from Business Week.
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11:18
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Mar
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Posted March 10th, 2010 by Tyler |
In the last school week of February, ACES (Americans for the Competitive Enterprise System) sponsored the annual Business Week here at CSHS for the sophomore class. This was the 5th year of Business Week at CSHS; the Spa was the first school in Crawford County to incorporate it into their curriculum. Six teams were split into two manufacturing divisions, cell phones and hand-held games. One company, EVO, was a cell phone producer.|
11:17
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Mar
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Posted March 10th, 2010 by ecorley |
The week of February 22nd Cambridge Spring High School sophomores got the opportunity to participate in Pennsylvania Business Week. Pennsylvania Business Week has been in operation for five years and most students note the experience as fun and a useful hands on tool for creating options when it comes to picking a major for college. During the week long event the students are able to operate a business for “three years” or twelve periods. Throughout the duration of the week there were several speakers that taught the students about better business ethics and other business related topics. In Mr. Werkmeister class they would hear the booming of rap music and the producers for the hand held video game The Galaxy hard at work. They opened up the week hopeful for the hundred dollar prize for being top company. Chief Executive Officer A. Leandro said by the third day ” Things are going decently they could go a little bit better but then again we could blow them out of the water.” While observing it was duly noted that each individual became part of a group and each were striving for excellence. The groups were split up into five categories financial, corporate communications, advertising, marketing, and manufacturing. Each was overseen by D. Wilcox, A. Haun, D. Geer, K. Spaid, T.Olon and J. Rice. The overseeing of groups and the split helped keep kids on task and organized. Galaxy was the recipient of the RONA (return on net assets) honorable mention. They also won the marketing category which is the award for the best company that advertised. Although they were disappointed at the end by not being voted overall best company, the team noted it as a fantastic experience and wanted to thank Chanellock and Lord Corporation for sponsoring the program.
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11:16
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Mar
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Posted March 10th, 2010 by ebright |
Last week for one whole week the entire sophomore class participated in Pennsylvania Business Week. Miworld was a group under the command of business teacher Mr. Costa and Mr. Culbertson. These students voted and elected a CEO for each group. In this case L. Lobdell was the CEO of Miworld. Miworld had to create a cell phone and market against the other groups who were also creating cell phones and some with gaming systems. There were six company’s 3 in each division of either group A or group B. Group A was assigned to design their own unique gaming device as group B was assigned to make their own unique Cell phone. Miworld the champs of the competition, although the other groups did a very nice job on their creations they could not be compared to Miworld. During the awards ceremony the competitors won a few honorable mentions yet this group won the ultimate prize of one hundred dollars. To get to first place over all, they won first place in the Rona (return on net assets) and also won first place in the stockholders competition. Miworld was also in second place at the trade show and second place in marketing competitions. They created a phone called the evolve because it is supposed to evolve into you and get to know you. Congratulations and good job to Miworld and all of the other groups.
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11:13
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Mar
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Posted March 10th, 2010 by Elaina Seawick |
Val Laufenberg i
s the Executive Director of ACES, and the host of Cambridge Springs High School’s fifth annual Pennsylvania Business Week seen in only five other counties in all of PA.
Val began Pennsylvania Business week in 1997 at Fort le Boeuf High School and it has stretched to all ends of Northwest Pa, reaching Erie, Crawford, Warren, Lawrence, and Mercer Counties. Cambridge Springs was one of the 9 lucky schools in the state to host this event. The idea of Business Week was to provide an in-school experience to the business world, and it became the first in school program ever.
Other states may offer expensive summer programs, but Pennsylvania Business week has been observed by many other states and a representative from New Zealand even stopped by to check it out. The participants don’t understand how lucky they are to have this experience, and how rare the program actually is.
Americans for the Competitive Enterprise System, or ACES, designed this program to help students see the ways of the real world, and get a real look at life in Business. The reward to the lucky company was a crisp $100 bill.
Val hopes that by all her hard work the students who participated in it will see “That there are so many different opportunities and career choices out there,” She loves her job and wants the students to be able to find their passion so they will love their job in fifty years.
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Mar
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Posted March 10th, 2010 by Janoski |
One of the companies that participated in Pennsylvania Business Week was “What?” This company was a division of Mercer County State bank. Their week started off on Monday, when they found out they would be designing a hand held video game. The first goal for the team was to pick a name for the company and for their game. Possible choices for the company were Journey, The Challenger, “What?” and The Unbeaten. The group voted on which ones they liked best, and decided that ‘What?’ would be the best name for the company. Next, they voted on the product name. They chose to use The Portal as their product name. The next matter of business was voting on the group’s CEO. Once everyone voted, the results showed that B. Bish was picked as CEO of What? “Right now I’m working to keep everyone in the company on track,” commented Bish. On Tuesday, the group was very busy working on their prototype, which included a variety of games. “We have Back Woods Paintball, Running the Mall, and Golf ball 900 as games for our product.” The rest of the week they spent working diligently on their advertisements and items for their competition. On Friday, the group was all set for the competitions, and wrote thank you letters to their sponsors. In the end, “What?” ended up winning the trade show and received honorable mention in the stockholders competition.
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11:12
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Mar
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Posted March 10th, 2010 by wilcox |
The 4th annual Cambridge Springs High School(CSHS) Jeopardy game was held on February 11, 2010. The Jeopardy game showcases the talents of the academics at CSHS. Students are picked from 9th to 12th grade and compete against each grade to win the Jeopardy game. “Each of the team members are picked by their peers to compete,” stated Mr. Schmidt.
The Jeopardy game started 4 years ago when two teachers at CSHS, Mrs. Mumford and Mr. Schmidt, were talking about the students. ” We were talking about Hi-Q(another club at CSHS) and we thought that since athletics get acknowledged so should the academics.” said Schmidt. After the idea was brought up it became a reality. “The first year the planning took the longest amount of time mainly because coming up with the questions took 2-3 weeks. We started out having the faculty submit questions for the game but sometimes the answers would get mixed up so now me and Mrs. Mumford do that part ourselves. The questions are usually based around academic fields but occasionally we throw in fun subjects such as, Name that Tune,” stated Mr. Schmidt. ” The morning of the game we still have stuff to get ready but usually Mr. Costa and Mrs. Schultz come down and help with all of that.” On the morning of February 11th, 9th through 12th grade went and watched the peers that they chose compete to win the Jeopardy game for the grand prize, donuts!. ” I would like to think this game is educational for the classmates who are watching,” said Schmidt.
This year the Jeopardy winners were the Seniors. The team consisted of Nate D., Scott C., Seth R., and Derek K. Winning against the other grades was not the only exciting thing for these seniors, they also had to compete against faculty from the school. The faculty included, Mr. Nuher, Mr. Molnar, Mr. Schultz, and Mr. Rauscher. The Seniors had a defeat once again against the faculty. After the loss to the graduating class of 2010 I interviewed Mr. Molnar, a senior English teacher at CSHS. “My reaction when I found out I was a contestant, I was a little surprised. I did not realize they were doing a teacher bit. I was a little surprised that I was voted on,” stated Mr. Molnar. Mr. Molnar has each of the four seniors previously mentioned in his English class. For the Jeopardy game he had to compete against the students he teaches. “I loved it. I loved seeing their reactions. They actually seemed enthusiastic. I do not normally get that with Hamlet. Usually they are passed out on desks.” When asked if the jeopardy questions were slanted toward a certain age group Mr. Molnar replied, “Well yes they were slanted against a certain age group because the four guys up there I can guarantee never read the novel Twilight, none of us would be caught dead in the movie watching Twilight and to tell you the truth I am a little surprised the guys sitting across from me would dare go see the movie Twilight. I would also like to comment that if they would ask us questions that both groups could answer that this particular English teacher along with the History teacher, Chemistry teacher and principal would surely be able to spell our capital and the state that we live in.” Mr, Molnar also commented on whether or not it bothered him that they lost to the seniors, “Yes it does but again the whole thing revolves around Twilight. So yes it was a little biased.”
The Jeopardy game that the grades compete in involves a manual button that you must push in order for your chance to answer the question. The seniors know how to use this equipment because of previous games they have played in the past, however, the teachers never have used it before. “There is no doubt in my mind that Mrs. Schultz and Mrs. Mumford rigged that system because we knew almost every answer up there, stated Mr. Molnar. However, the teachers did miss a game-breaking question related to art. “Except the question about the sphinx, you know, an art question that nobody would know about.”
Even though the teachers lost to the seniors this year he believes they should face the students again next year. “Why not? Sure, sounds good,” stated Mr. Molnar about competing against the seniors again. These are just a few of the highlights from the interview with everyone’s favorite, but sometimes controversial, English teacher.
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11:07
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