Students in McLean’s Entrepreneurship 1 classes hosted their annual Market Day Pop-up Shops from March 23-24 during lunches. The event was held in the lecture hall, with each group of students being in charge of selling a product.
“[Entrepreneurship] classes have been preparing for this day for months,” said Debra Dove, McLean’s Entrepreneurship teacher. “They are all super excited and have worked hard on their products.”
The pop-up shops are a fun way for students in Entrepreneurship to learn about the process of running a business. Students were given 50$ to use to order supplies or products to sell and were tasked with coming up with creative advertising of their products.
“The goal is to make more money than you used to buy the products,” senior Entrepreneurship student Eliza Ball said. “You don’t want to break even, you want to make a profit.”
Students had to use creative tactics to advertise their products to the McLean student body. Highlanders in Entrepreneurship employed different styles of advertising, including posting flyers around the school, designing their own websites, and getting the word out through personal social media.
“It was cool to be able to interact with the customers and simulate a real business-like experience,” senior Entrepreneurship student Charlie Jackson said. “It was more interesting than just learning about it in a class.”
Students set up their shops the morning of the first market day. Each product was designed and sold by a team of 4-5 students, who rotated working their shops in shifts throughout the four lunch periods on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“We each had a table with a poster, some people brought extra decorations to attract more customers, and people could come during lunch and buy the products they were interested in,” Ball said.
The market days were also featured on McLean media, including the “Did You Know” videos made by counselors Gregory Olcott and Adam Newburger. These videos are shown to classes periodically during Highlander time, providing a great way to raise awareness about Market days.
“We spent weeks preparing for the market days,” Jackson said. “It was the primary focus of our classes beginning in the third quarter, so everyone was excited about it.”
Market days ended as a success, with most groups making a profit from their products. The Entrepreneurship classes can now use their money to celebrate their hard work by spending it on a treat of their choosing.
“It’s really important for [students] to get in-person experience about what it’s like to run a business,” Dove said, “That is the main focus of this activity, I would say.”
