Agricultural Education
Launched in 2020, The Rustic Duck Co. is a student-run, student-owned agribusiness that gives students the creative freedom to develop soaps, candles, lip balm, and other agriculturally based products. This agribusiness is housed in the Agriculture Science department at Otto-Eldred High School with the entire department (which equates to over half of the school) having a hand in helping participate in the business throughout the year.
Brandon Witmer, the teacher and FFA Advisor of the program, expresses how important it is giving students ownership in their learning while providing real-world, hands-on experiences. "The teacher before me, Kristie Ramsey, started this whole business and had the vision for its potential. Now that I have taken the lead, I enjoy the opportunity this business gives our students by giving them the creative space to learn about the complete cycle of the agricultural production process in developing their products to sell. All the while, learning important real-world skills that can be applied to their future careers."
Special Education
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If you’re a business, talk about how you started and share your professional journey. Explain your core values, your commitment to customers, and how you stand out from the crowd. Add a photo, gallery, or video for even more engagement.
If you’re a business, talk about how you started and share your professional journey. Explain your core values, your commitment to customers, and how you stand out from the crowd. Add a photo, gallery, or video for even more engagement.
Gifted and Talented Education
The SAGE Startup – which operates out of the Northland Innovation Center in Kansas City, MO – was started as a way to give students in the Gifted and Talented Program more opportunities to flex their creativity and develop their growth mindset. It's done just that – and more! With this EdCorp, which includes several micro-businesses under one umbrella, students work in teams to create their products. Using tools like laser cutters and 3D printers, students are making marketable products like candles, keychains, and stickers. Teachers Derek Hutchinson and Cindy Turner emphasize that this isn't practice for these students - but a real world experience where they are learning about business and themselves.
"They are learning to take risks, fail, and listen, to seek out constructive feedback in order to make their businesses successful. They are learning the soft skills necessary to work with others. This is real-world learning." – Derek Hutchinson and Cindy Turner
STEM/STEAM
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If you’re a business, talk about how you started and share your professional journey. Explain your core values, your commitment to customers, and how you stand out from the crowd. Add a photo, gallery, or video for even more engagement.
If you’re a business, talk about how you started and share your professional journey. Explain your core values, your commitment to customers, and how you stand out from the crowd. Add a photo, gallery, or video for even more engagement.
Entrepreneurship + Business
Started in 2017, Direlights gives the students in Jennifer Stillittano’s Entrepreneurial Mindset class the opportunity to learn by doing, running a candle business with a social entrepreneurial twist. Housed in Central Coast High – a part of the New Tech Network – the class is a hands-on experience where every student has a role in running a business. More importantly, the class is an opportunity for students to learn about themselves and develop their own entrepreneurial skill set. Student interview for their role, work on teams, and even pitch at local entrepreneurial competitions, often against college students and other young adults.
Through Direlights, students learn the ins and outs of business as well as the entrepreneurial process, bringing products to market with real customers and evolving their offering as they learn and grow.
Skilled Trades Education
Started in 2017, Keystone Oaks Designs fuses entrepreneurship with skilled trades education by giving the students in Craig Wetzel and Dennis Sarchet's class the chance to run their own business. What started as an in-class project has grown to a business that specializes in handcrafted pens and cornhole boards.
Students handcraft all of the products using a lathe and can also provide laser-engraved customization. When complete, students are tasked with selling their products to real customers. They regularly attend community events alongside other vendors and companies. Not only has the experience increased student confidence, it's led to some big orders from local organizations. According to Craig, several students have included their EdCorps experience on their resumes and college applications, with some even expressing plans to take their learning forward and start their own small business.