Student Business Wraps Up with Surprising Results

Tartan High School students who launched a business last fall have some good news for their shareholders.

Shareholders will in fact be getting a return on their investment. 

Students who are involved in the school's marketing class and the DECA School Store partnered with D:Spot in Maplewood to launch their own business to sell chicken wings to students at school. Marketing Teacher Craig Spreiter oversaw the co-curricular project. 

"The kids learned a lot and enjoyed keeping up with it, especially going through and crunching the numbers," Spreiter said after the project wrapped up. 

Related: Tartan Students Launch New Business with Help from a Local Restaurant

Students sold D:Spot wings out of their school store on a pre-order basis. The students. The students running the business sold shares of their company's stock at $2 per share. 

The students launched their business in October with the plan to liquidate their assets and dissolve their business on Jan. 31

After dissolving their company, the students found that they had a 7.5 percent return on their investment. Those who bought $2 shares saw a 15-cent return. 

"Students bringing in their stocks are excited just to get any kind of money back," Spreiter said of the students who bought shares. 

The student businessmen and women sent out letters to their shareholders after the venture was complete. Below is an excerpt from the letter to shareholders, written by 11th-grader Marc Buchmayer: 

We paid wages, salaries, equipment, and all the typical expenses of doing business. Department teams maintained detailed production, sales, financial, and personal records. In brief, we performed all the functions of an ongoing company.

As with any business, we encountered several problems and faced some difficult decisions that ultimately provided insights, and practical knowledge of business and the economic system. We learned the importance of teamwork and communication to business success, and the value of listening to customers and producing high-quality products.

We wish to express our sincere appreciation to Darin Koch of D:Spot who partnered with us in this business venture. Finally, we would like to thank you, our stockholders, because without your interest and monetary commitment in our business, this experience would not have been possible.

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