TASTE OF BUSINESS: Kelly students learn life skills making and selling their own products

BENTON, Mo. -- For about an hour a day the home economics room at Kelly High School transforms into Kelly Creative Creations.

Among graphs, tally sheets, pinking shears, cocoa powder and Mason jars, students plan and assemble gift jars. Three sections of special education students came together to start a business and learn skills that will help them to make the transition to life after high school, said Lisa Lee, a special-education teacher.

Mostly juniors and seniors, the students voted on which products to make and sell and what to name their business, she said.

The students are learning to be more responsible and how to apply math skills, Lee said.

"They're a productive worker of a company," she said.

Junior Bruce VanHouten prepares labels Tuesday for Kelly Creative Creations gift jars.

On Tuesday morning, the home economics room was split into sections. In one area, students huddled around a table to tally their orders. In the kitchen area, cocoa, flour and sugar dusted the countertops as students measured ingredients into jars. In another corner, students cut out cloth circles to top the Mason jars.

"OK, we've got to keep it real still," said teacher Lindsey Grissom as she helped the students trace the circles.

At the final station, students measured twine to attach instructions to the jars.

Bruce VanHouten, a junior, said he favored the selling aspect of the project. His strategy involved targeting buyers at their hungriest.

"Wait for lunch and breakfast and go ahead and do it," he said.

Through their new business, students sold jars of brownies, chocolate chip cookies and soup mixes for $6 each.

Money from the project, which started in mid-November, will be put into a fund for future class business ventures, Lee said.

Because the district is more rural, the business is giving students an extra opportunity learn about transitional skills, she said.

"They enjoy it so much more because they can get up and manipulate it," she said.

Once students received their product order forms, they descended upon teachers and administrators.

"It was like a domino effect," said Kristy Moit, a junior.

As she was cutting out circles, Moit said she preferred "getting down and dirty" measuring the ingredients for the jars. She said learning about the product helped her sell it.

"By making it, we actually know what's in it and what it does," she said.

abusch@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

4035 State Highway 77 Benton, MO