Club members teach business skills to students.
By: Kim Nortman
The fate of a delicatessen business was in the hands of a banker. After a year of operation, students at Princeton High School met with representatives of the Rotary Club of Princeton to provide a progress report on the past year and projections for the year to come for their simulated business.
Sitting in a line across from the banker, the students were grilled on everything from how they were cutting costs to their advertising techniques to the types of delivery services they were providing. If any numbers did not match, they risked being cut off from their financial arrangement.
On April 26, graduation day of the Bridging the Gap program, three classes of students faced this scenario. Split into task forces of three to five people, each group would be graded on the quality of their presentation to the banker. The presentations were the culmination of a four-week class, conducted by the Rotary Club of Princeton to teach real-life business skills to high school students.
"We are trying to bring relevance to the classroom," said Jim Bowers, the Vocational Service Director of the Princeton Bridging the Gap program. The Rotary Club began Bridging the Gap two years ago, and it now conducts classes at 17 schools in New Jersey.
In each case, Rotary works with the teachers at the schools, setting up a schedule for the individual class. The teachers prepare the students with background information provided by the Rotary before Rotarian consultants give additional background and meet with the individual task forces.
"They were really easy to work with," said Max Sugiura, a senior who took the class because he is interested in marketing and advertising.
"These guys taught us things the course might not even cover, all the nuances of getting a business started."
Rotarian consultants have a variety of business backgrounds, ranging from investment banking to management consulting to owning small businesses. Each task force had to decide whether to buy a delicatessen business based on provided financial accounts. After meeting with their Rotarian consultant, they prepared a business plan, including an analysis of the finance. They presented their plans to a real-life banker to apply for a loan. The nature of the final presentation to the banker was based on this original meeting.
After their first proposal, he gave them the terms of their loan according to strength of their business plan.
"The first time around is usually a little rusty," Mr. Bowers said. One group was denied the original loan due to the unreasonable operations costs of their delivery service, and so was seeking the loan again on graduation day. "The second time is immensely improved," he added.
For students with a previous interest in business, the course strengthened their desire to pursue the field.
"I wanted to see what industry terms I needed to learn before I take it to the next level," Mr. Sugiura said. "I am now looking for an advertising major in college."
Even students without a strong interest in business enjoyed the simulation." I think it made me understand where companies are coming from," said Liz Oehlberg, a senior taking the class to fulfill her Practical Arts requirement. "It was one of my more interesting classes because you talk about things that are going on in the world."
On graduation day, every student received a certificate for successfully completing the program. "Each [class] is different, some of the kids are sharper and more interested than others, but they all come through," said Don Conover, a Rotarian consultant.