Business Matters Seniors learn ropes at Free Enterprise Week
Three high school seniors from Butler had a chance to hone their business skills earlier this month.
Devin Goehring, Drew Kukla and Tyler Rankin all took part in Pennsylvania Free Enterprise Week at the Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport, giving them an opportunity to see what it is like to run their own business.
Drew, who was the CEO for his team, helped it win the Top Company honor.
Students come to PFEW from more than 1,000 high schools throughout the state. These students attend thanks to scholarships contributed by more than 800 businesses, foundations, and civic organizations across the state.
The students are split into 24 teams, and the camp is organized so that no two students are on a team who know each other to simulate real-world employment. Each team vies to be the top company.
The participants form an imaginary management team where they learn firsthand about the free enterprise system. Their task is to turn their company into a financial success.
They develop their own marketing strategies, design a website and, in essence, make all of the decisions that are demanded of real life company executives.
Tyler, the son of Rich and Tracy Rankin of Butler, will be a senior at Butler High School.
He said, “I was the historian for my team. We were all from different schools. There were 13 on my team.”
Tyler said, “Our company was called Digitime. We were part of the watch industry. Our challenge was to design a watch with unique characteristics.”
“It was a sleek and paper-thin watch that was all-purpose, but nice. You could wear it to a high-end dinner, ” he said.
Among other tasks, Tyler said his team had to meet with “stockholders” and produce a commercial.
“Compared to every other team during the ongoing ranking, we were fourth of 24,” he said.
But the top prize went to the team that had Drew as its chief executive officer.
Scott Lee, vice president of marketing and development for the Erie-based Pennsylvania Free Enterprise Week, said, “Top company is the top prize. It's an aggregate score that means those guys had the most consistent team.”
Drew's company, Company C2, also was also in the watch industry.
Drew, the son of Betsey and Chris Kukla of Butler, who will also be a senior this fall at Butler High School, said, “On the first day, our team was throwing out ideas, getting to know one another. They found me to be the leader in the room.”
Drew's team's product was also a watch.Drew said of his tenure as CEO, “It was different. Kids were coming up to me to ask me questions, which was new. That's never happened to me before.”To take the top company prize, Drew said his team had to excel in categories such as management skills, return on assets and stockholder presentation.“We were trying to appeal to college students and teenagers,” he said. “We tried to connect everything to that target audience.Devin, the son of Jamie and Jeremy Goehring of Butler, is working for a construction company and will attend Pa. Cyberschool for his senior year.He said, “It was a very fun week. It was business camp but it didn't feel like it.“Coming out, you feel like you could almost run a company by yourself,” he said, adding he would like to eventually attend college as a business or accounting major.The goal of Free Enterprise is to educate students on the free enterprise system, said Lee. “Pennsylvania is one of 14 states the don't require economic classes.”“What we try to do is introduce them to concepts of business and free enterprise,” said Lee.The week also provided a preview of college life: living on a campus. When students arrive for their one-week session in July or August, they are housed in dormitories.Throughout the week there are also dozens of speakers presenting seminars and discussions covering such topics as the relationships of business with labor, government and consumers, business ethics, management and leadership skills.
