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Below are examples of the kinds of activities and ventures completed by the national SAGE champions represented in Shanghai, China at the Fourth Annual SAGE World Cup in August 2006.
1. Santa Monica High School, Santa Monica, California, USA. This team took first place in the world competition, also. From The LookOut:
…“I am incredibly proud of these students,” [high-school principal Ilene] Strauss said. “They represent us well. It really shows us what a strong connection between businesses and the schools can do.”
Local businesses, organizations and individuals like the Doubletree Hotel, Santa Monica franchises of McDonalds and Pizza Hut, the American Red Cross and local businessman Dave Heller support and mentor the students…
And tutors from UCLA, Cal State Dominguez Hills and Santa Monica College pitch in to fine tune the teens’ business plans and help train workers at the real-time ventures the teens run, added senior Anthony Campbell.
The teens thrive on the atmosphere of mutual support.
“We get along. We’re like a mini-family,” senior Carlton Fortenberry said. “If somebody’s struggling, they don’t feel embarrassed to ask for help.”
And their teamwork pays off.
In the last eight years, student management has increased revenues by 150 percent at the Vike’s Café and Vike’s Inn, where youngsters can get lunch, snacks and hip supplies picked out by buyers their own age.
Just last April, sales went up five percent, Coker said enthusiastically, and the enterprises bring in from $450 to $500 a day, or more than $70,000 a year.
But the students aren’t resting on their laurels.
Next year, they plan to open a new healthy soup and sandwich eatery with a tropical theme at the high school. …
2. The Economic Lyceum, Odessa, Ukraine. Also, this team was the first runner-up in the world competition. From the team’s 2005 – 2006 annual report:
Project “Bright Kids” was carried out exactly for clever children, for our future entrepreneurs and businessmen. The main purpose of this project was to show the basis of economics in a simple and interesting way. The project had a form of business games, such as “Advertising”, “Brain Attack”, Flight to the Moon”, “Tower”, “Money”.
[Project “Village Development”] we conducted together with Odessa SIFE-team and State Centre of Village Development.
This year we visited village schools in the Odessa region several times. We conducted a series of economic games, the main aim was to increase the level of knowledge in economics. Within the frames of this project we cooperated with the members of the school agro center. Our team carried out a complex of seminars and trainings which gave a possibility to reorganize the work of the agro center of the school.
Nowadays Internet has become the most useful source of information. That is why our team has created a site that contains information about the activity of the team “Business Grade”. The main purpose of this site was to draw people’s interest to our projects. Besides, the site contains the most required information for pupils; these are economic notions, hot news, school reports and reference books. …
3. The Songjiang No. 2 High School, Shanghai, China. This team was the second runner-up in the world competition. From the team’s 2006 annual report:
Our team believes that every student has marvelous potential. When we apply our knowledge to help others, such potential can be greatly tapped through all our social involvement.
Globalization offers us the delicacies from across the world. However, it has gradually taken the traditional culture away from us. Some traditional artists face great challenges.
Applying the knowledge studied above, we applied the global views and creative interpretation to design some ads of the traditional Chinese culture. Feedback: 80% favored and attended our related cultural activities. …
A cultural fair at Yue Yang Plaza. Artistes performed on-spot shows. Visitors got closer to our traditional culture. On-spot sales: 468 RMB. Number of visitors: about 1,500. …
On June 30, we held a cultural exchange event with American students. They learnt to make Chinese knots. We talked and understood how to deal with the culture differences between different countries. An 80-year-old artiste was invited by us to show them paper-cutting. …
4. Gray’s International College, Kaduna, Nigeria. This team was the third runner-up in the world competition. From the 2006 annual report:
Gray’s Sage team embarked on this program, in 2005, taking advantage of the Villagers’ produce in order to empower them and create wealth for themselves. This year, the team were motivated to reach out to other communities. The communities reached were taught how to make and market basic household products like yoghurt and the ethical concepts involved in it. Result: a woman started a small business earning an average of #7000.00.
[Post Centre] is designed by the SAGE Team in order to effectively bridge the communication gap between the students, the villagers and the outside world. The Team positioned a centralized kiosk where the students help the villagers in writing of letters, selling of stamps and envelopes, collecting parcels. Letters were dropped and sent to the office of NIPOST. Four communities were reached.
Our quarterly road trips to Mando Prison Camp Kaduna in the northern part of Nigeria is one of then Team’s favourite impacts because of the team’s bounding experience, but more importantly, because of the impact in the lives of the inmates and the students. Our lesson is to show them love, give them hope for a better life; creating a brotherly atmosphere and sharing essential commodities, with special session on careers and business ethics. …
5. The PRESEC SAGE team, Ghana. This team participated in the world competition. From the team’s 2006 annual report:
“A Little Goes a Long Way”. This project aims at beautification of PRESEC-LEGON. PRESEC lacks proper landscaping, floral and horticultural packages which will give it aesthetic beauty and enhance its looks in general, making it attractive to all who visit the school.
The poor appearance of the school tends to encourage littering of the compound with unwanted materials such as pure water sachets, wrappers and empty containers of all kinds. …
The Team started by collecting the used pure water sachets and other plastic containers around, washing them, cutting the top open and filling them [with] fertile soil. Stems of fast growing plants were cut and planted in the sachets filled with soil. …After a month of nursing the seedlings for sale between $1 an d$5 to the various students’ dormitories and masters’ bungalows. The SAGE Team also taught the customers how to cater for the young plants. …
6. Belleville South high School, Bellville, Cape Town, South Africa. The team took part in the world competition. From the 2006 annual report:
The school embarked on what we call “mission cycling”. The whole school is currently involve din this entrepreneurship venture, which was started by six learners and three teachers. It has now grown to over 70 learners and 12 teachers. Through SAGE our learners were afforded the opportunity to serve their school and community and at the same time acquire valuable business skills and become socially responsible citizens.
Our project started after a need was identified to clean our immediate environment. We collected plastic bottles, cans, plastic plant holders, newspapers, wires, tissue boxes, etc., and turned them into marketable goods like lamps, jewellery boxes, candle holders and bookmarks. Through this venture we sell these products and service the environment and community.
We then expanded our production-line by producing placemats, trays, beadwork on wood boxers / cases, decoupage products and craft paintings. We are currently in the process of establishing an article 21 company by means of which we will train and employ the unemployed in our poverty-stricken community. All profits shown are deposited into the school’s banking account and donated to various forms of charities we have adopted. …
7. Eunice High School, Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa. This team competed in the world competition. From the 2005-2006 annual report:
South Africa is an African country with a huge ability for the transformation and the development of human potential. … Our all- girls school … has a well-known annual tradition in which students participate in community-based projects called Leadership Projects. Our group decided to target a disadvantaged community, Heidedal. We identified the need and soon realized this project had the potential to be a successful business. We thus re-strategized and aligned our project plan to a formal business plan. We were willing to take the risk and seized the opportunity generate profit and create a business unit. …
Substance abuse is increasingly becoming not only a problem locally, but globally. Heidedal is a community, like many others in South Africa, in which the youth are victims of alcohol and drug abuse. The problem stems not only from a lack of education, but also as a result of a lack of entertainment, a lack of opportunities, feelings of neglect, the aftermath of apartheid, and the challenges of democracy. The need identified was to generate an income as musical agents and events managers while simultaneously creating healthy entertainment, which would engage the youth of Heidedal. …
8. Polytechnic College “Progress”, Almaty, Kazakhstan. This team participated in the world competition. From its competition report:
In possession of our college we have some equipment, plants and territory for growing mushrooms. The idea of mushrooms business is to grow mushrooms in ecological environment and to sell them as half ready goods. Mushrooms that were planted in such environment have a long period of life. The growing of mushrooms is business without waste. Used soil is the perfect material for production of ecologically clean drugs for fruits, vegetables and flowers. …
In Kazakhstan the problems of the poor rose together with implementation of market relationships. People were not ready for economical relationships, which result in an increase of poor people. The results of transformation of the socialistic society were increases in economy and unemployment. At present situation in Kazakhstan changed. Economy start to grow very rapidly but in rural areas the level of unemployment remained the same. Together with changes many enterprises were terminated especially in villages and rural area. People were forced to look for income. The start to open their own small businesses. …
9. Lyceum No. 3, Tula, Russia. The team took part in the world competition. From the team’s competition report:
“The Green Planet”. The purposes of the project: to involve children in [solving] environmental problems of Tula region; to bring up the skill to use resources economically and correctly; to form ecological thinking, ecological culture.
The direction of activity: ecologo-economic mission “The City-sworn brother” in Mogilyov repub;oc Byelorus; without waste process of manufacture of products of arts and crafts is organized; the plan of joint actions under the decision … from Bulatova T.V. is developed by the director of the Center of protection of wood of Tula area.
The corporation has allocated 10% of the profit from sales at the fair of education “The Profile 2006” to buy the young trees. …
“The Grandmother’s firm”. The purposes of the project: to promote increase in the level and quality of a life of pensioners in the Russian society; to familiarize pensioners with creative and cultural values of the society; to organize the process of training of pensioners and their communication with youth; to bring up the feeling of respect for grown ups among youth . …
The main achievements: … the family budget of pensioners, participants in the project, has increased by 10%. …