MBA Volunteers Share Business Savvy with Fifth Graders

As part of a national program that teaches children about business and entrepreneurship, elementary students in Prince Georges (Md.) County Schools benefited from the business savvy of Smith MBA volunteers. Almost 200 fifth graders were able to participate in the program this past spring.

We divided students into small teams of five to six students, said Jennifer Beaudet, organizer and recent Smith MBA graduate. These teams role-played as little companies that were in the friendship bracelet business. Students learned to market, manufacture, and sell their products as well as keep financial records of all their cash flows.

In fall 2000, MBA students involved in the Smith Schools Net Impact club began volunteering in this community service program sponsored by BizWorld, an organization based in California that teaches children about business and entrepreneurship through a simulation game.

National VIP Kids Network has been working with the BizWorld Program for a number of years and served as a tremendous help in getting Smith students connected to fifth-grade classrooms in Prince Georges County elementary schools, said Beaudet.

Frank Murphy is the founder/CEO of the National VIP Kids Network, the local non-profit organization, which acted as a liaison between Net Impact, BizWorld, and the Prince Georges County Schools.

Impressed by Beaudets dedication to the BizWorld project, Murphy, who is also the principal of the Northwestern Evening High School (EHS), asked Beaudet to be the keynote speaker at the schools graduation ceremony last month.

The Evening High School (EHS) is an optional high-school instructional program conducted in the evening for students working towards their GED or Maryland High School Diploma, if they are withdrawn from day school. EHS is located just minutes from the University of Maryland campus.

"If you trust your heart, and take the time to do something good in your day, the impact could be enormous," said Beaudet in her speech. "You have just graduated high school, and I commend you for that! You chose to accomplish this feat -- in the evening, nonetheless -- and your degree gives you the power to make more choices as you move forward, both big and little."

It was an extremely effective talk on the spirit of business and being a good citizen, said Murphy of Beaudets address. Jennifers discussion on not being too busy to volunteer was well received and highly regarded, and is a template for Smith School students to follow and lead an ethically positive business climate in the 21st century.