BY KAREN CAMPBELL
Weakley County Schools Communications Director
DRESDEN (March 18) - Local leaders encouraged young entrepreneurs last week as the Dresden Rotary Club transformed into a “Shark Tank.” The popular television program served as the inspiration for a presentation that netted Dresden High School’s student enterprise two contracts for T-shirts and valuable experience at creating a winning sales pitch.
President Larry Skarsten told the March 15 meeting of the Rotary Club that once he learned of the school’s entrepreneurship class, taught by Stacey Lockhart, and their investment in learning design and screen printing, he felt a great way to encourage them would be to present a challenge. He set up a “Shark Tank” experience whereby two teams would work up prototypes and business proposals and pitch their ideas to the local club. The club had already planned on producing customized shirts incorporating the Rotary Club logo, so inviting the students to vie for the contract seemed like a means of accomplishing that goal while also supporting the school.
Paige Mallon, Parker Ferrell, Aysia Stafford, Haley Brooks, Gavin Cooper, Porter Finney named their group the Wheely Good Team. Their design incorporated a bicycle with the Rotary Club symbol as a wheel and promoted the idea of Humanity in Motion. The second team, who chose to forego a name, was made up of Jacey McClure, Chandler Turnbow, Dylan Wade, Shaun Dunning, Allison James, and Anna Lackey. They placed the logo on the front of the shirt and emphasized the message “Believe there is good in the world/Be the good” on the back.
Both teams used photos presented on the overhead screen at the Purple Iris, the regular meeting location for the club, as they described their design and shared figures on costs.
After the brief presentations, the club was set to vote. However, Judge Tommy Moore quickly made the motion that rather than choose one option over the other, the club should accept both designs. The vote was unanimous to do so.
A few murmurs prompted a return to the competitive spirit as the group agreed to cast silent votes for one or the other while still ensuring both designs would be produced. The Wheely Good Team sped ahead on the vote to take home the bragging rights.
Chatting with class members, the experience was obviously a positive one.
“In the entrepreneurship class I’ve learned business tactics and how to run a business so when I grow older and take over my grandfather’s business, I’ll be able to efficiently do it,” said Paige Mallon.
Parker Ferrell agreed she, too, had gathered valuable experience for her plans to eventually open her own law firm.
Many agreed working together to combine and improve upon ideas to and cull through multiple design proposals had been challenging but beneficial.
“School-based enterprises are proving to be more than just experiential learning for our students,” noted Career and Technical Education Director Lindsey Parham. “As our future business leaders interact with current leadership, they are gaining valuable networking skills. We are appreciative of the Rotary Club for their support.”