Rosedale Express
For 20 years Rosedale has been conducting its Saturday Morning Program for girls in the 5th through 8th grade.
This year Irene, director
of Rosedale Center, decided to add a new dimension to the curriculum
called “company.”
“Company” is actually short for the Junior Achievement Company Program that provides students with practical business experience through the organization and operation of a
student-run business. Eleven girls participated in the company.
Their first order of business was to give themselves a name, “Rosedale Express.”
I like to
think the
inspiration for the name came from the company
I work for: American Express.
The second thing the girls did was to determine what products they would sell.
After much deliberation and consideration of a variety of economic and logistical factors, the girls settled on personalized picture frames and key chains.
While they were all responsible for selling their products, each student also had additional tasks.
Azuree, Stephanie M. and Stephanie F. were in charge of Finance, where they took turns entering transactions onto financial documents.
Dzifa and Nia were the heads of Marketing and led the group in the development of marketing materials that were displayed at Rosedale.
Amanda and Heidi ran Human Resources.
They took attendance and kept the minutes each week, were responsible for making sure each student was listed on the stockholder record, and held a Board Meeting during the semester.
Sasha and Ariel were in charge of Sales Management and gave a presentation to the group to share effective selling techniques.
Samantha and Natalie were the heads of Production and were the primary contact between Rosedale Express and the vendor who provided the frames/key chains.
Although many new companies didn’t fare well in 2001, this start-up did a fantastic job. Rosedale Express sold more than $766 worth of merchandise and made a
profit of $271.
Each student earned $15 with the top three sellers earning an additional $10, $15, and $20 respectively.
The company donated $61 to Rosedale, and 10 girls gave an additional $1 to the cause, bringing the total donation to $71.
But Rosedale Express was more than just a place to learn about business and make money.
It was an opportunity for the students to put their character-building skills to work in a real-world situation.
Handling other people’s money taught the girls about responsibility.
Conversations about how to compensate people who sell more than their share were really about fairness.
And deciding how to pay people who sold less than their share and what to give Rosedale was really about charity.
I hope all the students got as much from the class as I, their instructor, did.
By J. Friedman, American Express
Published September
2001
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