A budget of $0 and no staff might cause some institutions to table a project, but for Bronzeville Lighthouse Charter School such circumstances constitute the norm. Despite these constraints, Melissa Connelly developed a program to continue challenging the higher achieving students at the junior high charter school in the primarily lower SES Bronzeville community of Chicago.  Budgets and staffing be damned, Melissa knew these students could achieve greater heights but lacked an outlet for their talents and the High Achieving Student (HAS) Program was born.

Enter Saundra Hale and Jennifer Sutherland, two graduate students at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology (TCSPP) who, through the school's Community Partnerships Department, decided to volunteer at Bronzeville to gain psychology relevant experience working with youth.  Ms. Connelly (as she's know by her students) and the two graduate students quickly decided on a business development curriculum for the HAS Program in which students would ideally develop their own businesses.

Saundra and Jennifer worked diligently to shape a curriculum, completing busienss development and curriculum development research (neither were particularly skilled in either area).  While still getting oriented at Bronzeville and TCSPP, Saundra and Jennifer had already begun their weekly classes, teaching the junior high students business basics only days after learning them themselves.

The program began to take on a life of its own, as the junior high students' creativity quickly emerged through their many different business ideas.  Saundra and Jennifer realized a forum would be needed to showcase all of these great product ideas and perhaps even generate some revenue.

After a semester of business education, the Bronzeville students hosted an Entrepreneur Fair open to the community in which they sold everything from cookies to bracelets to homemade tutus.  One student was even selling hand sewn purses for $15! She had sold 8 by the time I showed up.  After one quick pass at the fair, the industrious students had exchanged the $9 in my pocket for their various wares.  Their business models included standard businesses, fundraising for non-profits, and even social ventures.

Through nothing more than the enthusiastic pursuit of good idea, 11 junior high students learned business basics, developed marketable products, and made hundreds of dollars.  Many of them have continued their business ventures and will develop new products generating hundreds of dollars more.  Saundra, Jennifer, and Melissa deserve recognition for this pilot project which, when I saw the final result, looked more like a well developed mature program.  With some funding, this program will undoubtedly blossom further creating greater experiential learning oppoprtunities for both the youth and the graduate students involved.