Notre Dame teaching valuable lessons in business

Students at Notre Dame Regional High School are getting hands-on lessons in the world of entrepreneurship.

The high school's business law class doesn't just study legalities, but what it takes to own and operate a business. The class includes research and building a business from scratch; and at the end of the semester, the students present their projects in a "Shark Tank"-like situation, according to a recent story by Marybeth Niederkorn.

"We talk about the law in general and get into more of the laws associated with business: contracts, dissolutions, how the court system works, and so on," said teacher Gail Tempe. Included in the curriculum is guest speakers.

For one of the quarter final exams, students present the business plan at the "Dog Fight," Timpe said, which is a nod to the school's mascot. As a class, students vote on the three best proposals, and those three present in a bank's board room with guest judges from the community, according to Niederkorn's reporting.

Students learn all sorts of applicable skills, including public speaking.

In very broad and general terms, K-12 education doesn't spend enough time on entrepreneurship and hands-on learning like this, though more and more schools are adopting such curriculum.

Notre Dame seems to be introducing students to concepts and challenges that could go a long way for any student wanting to start their own business one day. We applaud the school for showing students real-world business principles as part of its curriculum.