Sophomore Trent Gascho (Bay Port, Mich.) and freshmen John Oyer (Hesston) and Curtis Denlinger (Perkasie, Pa.) ran a three-on-three dunkball tournament as their entrepreneurship project.Students in David LeVan’s Entrepreneurship class got a first-hand look at what it takes to start and run your own business this semester. The class was split into two teams, and each one was responsible for conceptualizing, developing and running its own business.
Students created The Cookie Jar (an affordable, late-night snack shop) and Hesston Dunkball Tournament (a three-on-three basketball tournament played with eight-and-a-half-foot rims). Assignments included conducting market research and assessing the overall need and desire for the kinds of businesses they were interested in operating. To get the necessary start-up capital to open the businesses, students made presentations of their business plans to a panel of Hesston College faculty and staff who served the role of prospective investors.
Sophomores Calvin Graybill (Goshen, Ind.) and Chad Newcomer (Mt. Joy, Pa.) and freshman Jennifer Lecklider (Lyons, Kan.) planned and operated The Cookie Jar to offer affordable late-night snacks on campus.“I like the class because it’s a completely new experience,” says freshman and part owner of The Cookie Jar Jennifer Lecklider of Lyons, Kan. “It’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it, especially if we want to open our own business someday. This class is an insight to what things are really like.”
Once the funds were allocated, students actually ran the businesses and got a glimpse of what it’s like to make payroll, handle customer service, implement marketing strategies, and adjust spending to stay in the black.
“I’ve learned that it’s the little things that make the business complete,” Lecklider says. “You’ve got to work together as a team and make sacrifices for the good of the business.”
