45 ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TRIP For the first time during Entrepreneurship Week, the Kutztown University College of Business (COB) and the Kutztown University Small Business Development Center (KUSBDC) extended the week’s event to a local elementary school in town. After coming up with the idea, Rachael Wolfe, KUSBDC’s Director of Digital Media Strategy & Leadership Development, organized the outing to coincide with the third-grade curriculum related to entrepreneurship. it’s probably not a bad price,” Wehrung remarked with a smile, but intuitively “they really knew so much as third graders” regarding marketing and unique business propositions. The next section led the groups into an activity to design their pitch for their product. Still using the group with tasty, colorful cookies as an example, they designed a YouTube video of kids eating Walmart cookies and spitting them out, then a passerby hands them “these really yummy cookies.” “It was exactly right,” Wehrung exclaimed, “They were telling the story of the customer.” In the fourth section, each group had to pitch their idea to the whole class. “My group got really shy,” surprising Wehrung, “because they were active, outgoing, third graders, but standing in front of forty of their peers made them a bit timid.” The whole lesson done in just under an hour gave the third graders a sample of what undergrads learn in college. “These third graders were just as able to handle the activities as undergrads, but with playdough,” Wehrung relayed. “It was such a great experience,” John Stetler, Director of the KUSBDC, stated, “seeing the enthusiasm on the kids’ faces, their interest, creativity, and public speaking in presenting something they developed.” Stetler relayed that the department received thank you posters that each student signed. Asking if they did this at other schools, "The plan is to do it again,” Wehrung stated, “It was an awesome activity.” Wolfe talked about doing it throughout the year with other classes. When asked if KU students could get involved, Wehrung explained that it could be a great opportunity for juniors and seniors in Business or Education majors. “There is a lot to be learned from a leadership perspective by actually teaching someone else,” Wehrung explained, “I think it would be a great activity for KU students.” Taking the traditional Business Model Canvas, Wolfe converted it into a simplified version and designed a lesson plan of four, 10-minute units. The class was divided into eight groups consisting of five students per group with a staff member to help them out. The first unit prompted each group to build their product using playdough. The second unit directed the class to fill out the revised Business Model Canvas where students were asked about the value proposition of the product, customer descriptions, managing customer relationships, channels for marketing and distribution, revenue streams, costs, etc. Dr. Jeff Wehrung, Associate Dean of the COB, wondered, ‘do they really understand this at their age?’ He briefly explained the value proposition to his group who made cookies for their product. Upon this clarification, the group yelled out that “our cookies taste better and are more colorful, so people will be willing to pay more.” “So, who’s your customer?” Wehrung prompted. “Rich people!” they responded, with a plan to sell their cookies at $20 per dozen. “They’ll learn later in life that Dr. Wehrung takes a selfie with the KUSBDC in front of the elementary school.
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