Ursuline entrepreneurs see their ideas materialize at ‘Marketplace’

Above: Ursuline second grader Norah Flynn sold out of her “Design Your Dream" dream catchers at last month’s UA Marketplace, the culmination of a social studies unit in economics in which each second grader created a product and brought it to market. (Photos by Beth Donze)

By BETH DONZE
Clarion Herald

Their handmade wares included everything from donut-flavored lip gloss to one-of-a-kind pencil erasers to needlepoint bookmarks.

Entrepreneurial spirit was bursting at the seams inside Ursuline Academy’s main courtyard last month as the school’s second graders mounted their inaugural “UA Marketplace,” the culmination of a social studies economics unit in which they sold products they had conceived, crafted and marketed themselves.
Each second grader assumed the role of an entrepreneur, brainstorming her own product idea and submitting a business proposal to her teachers before diving into the “manufacturing" phase.

“They had to submit a business name and come up with a product and a slogan,” explained second-grade teacher Barbie Oltmann. “They also had to let us know what they were going to use (to make) their product – it had to be homemade.”

The project was deliberately cross-curricular. In art, the second graders created and drew a logo for their product; during technology class, they produced a three-minute commercial in which each young entrepreneur announced the name of her product and its slogan; in music, they wrote and recorded a catchy UA Marketplace jingle and dance to incorporate into the commercial.

The commercial was posted on YouTube (at https://bit.ly/3ulbOQ7) “so that all the little girls in the other grades could preview it before coming to shop,” Oltmann said. “They really had so much fun with it! The girls just took it and ran with it!”

On UA Marketplace Day, the budding businesswomen set up “storefronts” in the courtyard to sell their products to their customers – Ursuline students in first, third and fourth grade. Shoppers bought items using paper “money” they had purchased in advance of the sale.

The sale showcased the second-graders’ varied interests, personalities and problem-solving skills.

For example, the pandemic inspired Lily Whitehead – a.k.a. “The Masketeer” – to dye cloth face masks, deck each with one of Ursuline’s four class mascots (Leprechaun, Phoenix, Mac and Skip) and sell them to the corresponding class members.

Sophia Jones also sold face masks, but her “Fancy Masks” company had the brilliant idea of taking bland, blue surgical masks and hand-painting them to reflect different holidays.

For her business dubbed “Annabelle’s Animals,” Marketplace vendor Annabelle Brox watched origami videos to learn how to make her intricate paper birds and foxes.

The second graders’ handmade focus also could be seen in the “Charming Llamas” – decorative llamas fashioned out of colorful wool batting and pipe cleaners – made by Ally Gonzale z; Sara Behlan’s star-shaped coasters, made with plastic Perler beads; and Peyton Car
ter’s “Eyes by Peyton,” cool, faux binoculars constructed out of cardboard tissue paper rolls.

At least two products sold out right away at the Marketplace event: Maria DiMartino’s chunky necklaces, strung with clay beads Maria made herself; and Norah Flynn’s dream catchers, which carried the intriguing slogan of “Design Your Dream.”

Second grader Ayden Core, who participated virtually in the Marketplace, offered up Star Wars-themed keychains made out of sparkly resin and made a tri-fold board with photos of her making them for the sales event.

The second graders have earmarked all $575 of their UA Marketplace proceeds for the purchase of a “buddy bench” for the Lower School playground (a bench on which youngsters who want a friend with whom to play at recess can sit, be identified and be invited to play by a classmate). The bench will be painted by students and put in place for the 2021-22 school year.

“I think that the second-grade girls here at Ursuline are taught from a young age that they’re trailblazers,” said Annie Oddo, the school’s other second-grade teacher. “They are a group of young women who want to set their own paths, and in second grade, just from being at Ursuline, they’ve learned that. We wanted to inspire them to make their own product and feel like they could really take ownership in it, even starting at 7 and 8 years old!”

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