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Empowering Program
Kids love entrepreneurship — it’s creative, empowering, and money-making! And since the kids decide what type of product they want to sell, according to their own interests or hobbies, TREP$ reaches the kids that teachers sometimes can’t.
Another unique characteristic of TREP$ is that the kids really want to learn this. They love the idea of being taken seriously. They quickly learn that they need to behave professionally, and they do! The connection between hard work and success is made in the Workshops. They choose success as their goal, and with the help of TREP$, learn the path that will take them there.
The path may end with the TREP$ Marketplace, but there’s a lot to learn before then! In the Workshops the children collaborate on teams, make presentations, think creatively, act professionally, support one another, take risks, and work hard, having fun all the while. All of their effort pays off at the TREP$ Marketplace. -
Students launching businesses:
- Research product ideas
- Brainstorm ways to improve products
- Analyze market and financial potential
- Create prototypes
- Implement market research
- Determine pricing, packaging, and promotion
- Manufacture products
- Write advertisements
- Deliver sales pitches
- Design table displays
- Promote businesses
- Launch businesses
- Present products to potential customers
- Apply math skills
- Observe as things are unfolding
- Adapt to new situations
- Reflect on the outcomes of business decisions
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Hands-On Workshops
Learning all you need to know to launch your own business is fun at the TREP$ Workshops! The fast-paced, engaging classes cover the topics of product development, finance, marketing, advertising, and sales. An additional Workshop is offered after the TREP$ Marketplace and gives the kids the opportunity to reflect on what they have learned and all that they have accomplished.During the Workshops, the live or remote classroom takes on a professional environment as students are encouraged to develop leadership skills, practice critical thinking, solve problems creatively, demonstrate economic concepts, become risk takers, learn from the business community, and begin planning their own businesses. The kids love the idea of being taken seriously!
Perhaps it’s because the topic is typically reserved for older students, that kids in grades 4 through 8 find entrepreneurship irresistible! The content and activities of the TREP$ Workshops are specially designed with the particular abilities and needs of kids ages 9-14 in mind. Thought-provoking cartoons, role-plays, and team “challenges” help to teach business basics in an age-appropriate and fun-filled manner.
The knowledge and skills acquired at the TREP$ Workshops thoroughly prepare young entrepreneurs for their “grand opening” at the Marketplace!
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Community Marketplace
Nothing can replace the extreme feelings of actually taking your product to market — the excitement, the nervous energy, the anticipation! The TREP$ Marketplace, which can be offered LIVE or ONLINE, defines this program by allowing each student to take a risk, to apply what they have learned, and to actually operate a business!
Many entrepreneurship programs on today’s market fall short by only allowing students to plan businesses or simulate business ownership. In contrast, TREP$ gives kids the opportunity to enjoy the feeling of doing, rather than just planning or pretending. The TREP$ Marketplace makes it real.
With an official ribbon-cutting, performed by your town mayor or school principal, the TREP$ Marketplace begins. The children pitch their products, proudly showing the world what they have accomplished. They are entrepreneurs in every sense. They have taken a risk to see their vision brought to reality.
All of the hard work and effort has provided them with something more valuable than a good grade on a test. The reward fits. They have been given a memory that will last a lifetime: the empowerment of launching a business. -
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Real Benefits
The benefits of teaching entrepreneurship using TREP$ are far-reaching. Children who participate in TREP$ describe the feeling of empowerment and confidence that comes with starting a business. This is a situation where it is possible for all kids to succeed. Where many programs reward the academically, athletically, musically, or artistically gifted, TREP$ rewards those with passion, determination, and a strong work ethic.
