What better way to learn about business than to actually running one?That was the conclusion reached by nine seniors enrolled in Broome-Tioga BOCES’ New Visions Business Academy after spending four months working as a team envisioning, creating and then operating a profitable enterprise called “9 Roots.”
With guidance from their teacher, Julie Keenan, and volunteers from local businesses, the students became immersed in every facet of business through the Junior Achievement program. Tasks included finance, marketing, production, sales and human resource management.
The group met regularly at the offices of the Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the JA program. To raise capital, they sold 75 shares of stock at $2 a share and then invested the money in winter knit hats and fleece-lined stadium blankets, products identified as top sellers by respondents in the company’s customer survey.
When the firm was liquidated on December 11, it had raised nearly $3,400, returning a shareholder dividend of $3 per share and donating most of the reminder to local non-profits, including Make-A-Wish ($1,000), CHOW ($350), Humane Society ($350), American Red Cross ($350) and the Wounded Warrior Project ($350).
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