Hello from Business Education at Central Lee High School. We have been active in the following areas as we strive to be the leader in Business Education for southeast Iowa high schools:
Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) was started last year by former student Sydney Gram, and we are in our first full official year of activity. Our goal is to increase membership numbers and introduce students to opportunities associated with FBLA membership. Additionally, various members attended the Junior Achievement Stock Market Challenge, hosted by St. Ambrose University.
Here are some updates from the classes taught within Business Education:
Accounting and Accounting II: Students developed an understanding of introductory accounting terms and concepts (debit, credit, journalizing, revenue, expenses, etc.). We took a field trip to Menke and Co. Accounting Firm on November 12, giving students a firsthand experience of how accounting firms operate. Accounting II students will learn about marketing concepts for larger businesses/corporations.
Business Law: Our small but mighty class learned about a variety of business law concepts: an introduction to the field of law, civil vs. criminal law, contract, employment, and consumer law. Additionally, we took a field trip to the Lee County Courthouse in Keokuk to watch sentencing hearings and talk with court staff. We learned that there is a tremendous shortage of lawyers and court staff in our area. Hopefully, some of the students will consider law as a career path.
Introduction to Business: This freshmen and sophomore class covered a variety of introductory business subjects. Marketing, management, and economics are just some of the big topics covered. Mr. Fransk owes the students a field trip to Grassroots (it was closed on the date we hoped to visit).
Sports Marketing: This experience class is entirely project based. Students chose an event to market and focused their learning by completing marketing activities. One group hosted halftime at an early-season home basketball game, and another group focused on getting the word out about fundraising efforts for our baseball/softball field renovations. We welcomed speakers from our athletic department (Mr. Bryant and various student athletes), as well as representatives from our sports booster club (Mr. Scott Fogarty).
Personal Finance: This course, formerly known as Winning the Money Game, focuses on important financial skills to help prepare students for life as young adults. Credit, budgeting, investing, taxes, and insurance are some of the primary topics we cover. The theme of the class is not necessarily how to attain wealth, but rather on developing a personal financial philosophy to avoid going broke. We welcomed Mr. Steve Jones to help teach students about concepts related to banking institutions and some helpful financial hints.
Entrepreneurship: The class responsible for running our small school business, The Perch, had a semester of learning about the difficulties and successes associated with being an entrepreneur. In the future, the class will focus on developing their own ideas instead of just taking over what was done in the previous semester. The highlight from last semester was that students in the class successfully obtained a $2,300 grant for a superautomatic espresso machine, a small ice machine, and a small table.
As a new-ish teacher to Central Lee (in my second year), I am working hard on getting to know the students and continually looking for new ways to teach so they can have the best learning experience possible.