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| Solly Popish Beachwood High School Student |
Five students from the Excel TECC marketing class at Beachwood High School will travel to Orlando Saturday to compete in an international marketing competition.
When they were pitted against 3,000 students at the district competition, 22 out of the 23-student class took trophies home.
However, they say the competition is secondary to the work they do in the class: earning money by actually providing marketing services to real companies.
“Everyone in our class — no one studied, but we blew everyone out of the water just because what we take on the test,” said Kaulan Hooper, a student in the class. “What we do in our role-plays, that’s exactly what we do for actual clients,” he added.
“So we’re not practicing. We’re actually doing, which makes it so much easier to do when you actually go to the competition.”
The class spent one semester doing research for Contemporary Cosmetic Surgery, a local company that asked the class to help them reach the teen market.
Students organized focus groups and conducted their own research about teens’ attitudes about tanning, which they presented to the company.
“The students did a wonderful job,” said Dr. Brian Michelow of Contemporary Cosmetic Surgery in a press release. “We learned that teens are hearing the message about healthy skin but they are not necessarily listening. Mrs. Getz and her class helped us understand the teen thought process when it comes to skincare and what was important to them in product and services."
In fact, the company was so pleased with the students’ work, they paid them double.
The class teaches the students more than just marketing. From how to act and dress around a real business client to the vocabulary the students have to decipher from the college-level textbook the class uses, the students walk out more prepared for the real world, they said.
With the after-school internships they are required to hold during the school year, the independent work outside class with their client and even the fact that they choose their own curriculum for the school year, responsibility plays a huge role for Getz’s class.
The rest of this school year, the class will continue refining their research to send it to a state legislator who has proposed a bill that would more strictly prohibit tanning for minors. They will also continue Chik-Fil-A breakfasts they have sporadically throughout the year, and they are selling T-shirts to raise extra money.
The class is part of Excel TECC, a six-school collaboration that offers college prep, tech prep and other learning opportunities to students. Other classes in Excel TECC include the Culinary Arts class, which runs a café in Beachwood High School’s cafeteria; and the Green Dream, which hosts a green business expo annually. Getz’s class is the only one in the state that earns college-level marketing and accounting credits, she said.
By Nikki Ferrell - The Beachwood Patch
April 29, 2011 Photo Nikki Ferrell
