Fifth-grade students launched promising businesses based on their interests. The Entrepreneurship Fair was an offshoot of author Ty Alan Jackson’s “Danny Dollar” series, which teaches children financial literacy.
LEE, Mass. — Hundreds of students packed into the cafeteria at Lee Elementary School last week to enjoy the school’s first-ever Entrepreneurship Fair.
Over the past two months, the school’s fifth-graders have been learning about financial literacy and developing their own businesses based on their interests.
The students began the initiative in late April, during Financial Literacy Month, by reading Ty Alan Jackson’s first book, “Danny Dollar,” which he wrote while living in Pittsfield. The book’s description says it teaches kids “about finance, banking, investing and entrepreneurship in a fun and accessible way.”
An entrepreneur and author, he is the founder of the Danny Dollar Entrepreneurship Fair, a program that works with schools to teach children life and financial literacy skills.
Jackson and his friend “Danny Dollar” flew in from California to praise the students’ efforts. The kids crowded around Danny, high-fiving and hugging him as they proudly showed off what they’d developed. The students also received free copies of Jackson’s second book, “Making Your Own Money.”
As part of the program, the Entrepreneurship Fair will provide schools with templates with concepts and curriculum, which teachers will then adapt to fit their school’s needs, Jackson said.
“We don’t give them much guidance, we just give them the formalities and let them do the rest,” he said.
“The students learned that you have to spend money to make money, so it was fun to discuss how to get that money, pay it back and get investors,” English and math teacher Michelle Preli said.
“So, in addition to starting a business, I really had a lot to learn about financial literacy in general.”
In Preli’s English classes, the first half of the day was spent following the regular curriculum, and the second half was spent reading books and working on projects.
When the students began this journey, they didn’t know where to begin, Puleri said. When Jackson started over Zoom, he told the students to “dream big and think big,” but they struggled with that.
Over the past few months, Pulleri has seen a lot of collaboration and discussion among students.
“This is probably one of the best projects I’ve seen in my 25-plus years as a teacher. This is something that the kids will remember, it’s something that sparks a passion in someone later in life, it makes them want to go to school, and that’s what it’s all about,” she said.
Jackson said what the students learn in the program “will stay with them for the rest of their lives,” giving them confidence and self-esteem and teaching them important life lessons.
It also shows adult society that these children are fully capable of doing what needs to be done. Often, people underestimate children’s capabilities and overlook that they can do things that are thought of as the adult realm, Jackson said.
The idea to bring the program to Lee Elementary came about when physical education teacher Jen Carlino asked her fifth-graders if they would be interested in participating in the fair, Puleri said.
She said school officials got to know Jackson several years ago when the Parent-Teacher Association purchased a set of “Danny Dollar” picture books for fifth-graders, and that Jackson was involved with the board of directors of Greylock Federal Credit Union’s Banzai Financial Literacy Program.
“Part of the district’s strategic plan is to teach students some financial literacy early on, plant that seed and give them the background knowledge,” Puleri said.
“So, [Jackson’s] The goal of this program is to get kids thinking about their future and taking action now.”
“This class teaches students to ask themselves: When you think about the future, what can you do now? What business can you start now? And how can you make it happen?” she said.
The entrepreneurship fair is based on the premise of a “familiar” science fair, but substitutes entrepreneurship for science and allows kids to showcase their business ideas, Jackson said.
“What’s great is that we actually have kids who are already running businesses. It’s really amazing.”
The fair is an opportunity to plant the seeds of entrepreneurship in students who may never have considered starting a business and let them know that just because they’re kids doesn’t mean they can’t think about the future and focus on what they want to do now, Jackson said.
“Every kid has been asked at one point, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ This show is about what you want to do now,” Jackson said.
“And if they have a skill set or an idea where they can create their own business out of their skill set, this is a great catalyst to make that happen.”
Jackson started the program three years ago with about 200 students in Pittsfield. Since then, it has grown to reach 3,000 students across counties in California, Mississippi, Massachusetts, New York and Florida, Jackson said.
Not all students will become entrepreneurs, but all will graduate with an entrepreneurial mindset, he said.
Jackson said students will leave with thoughts about perseverance, teamwork, creativity, critical thinking, self-reliance and all the aspects it takes to be an entrepreneur and manage finances.
The fair is sponsored by the Smile Like Jack Memorial Fund, which was established in May 2022 in memory of Jack William O’Brien, who died at age 20 in a snowmobile accident.
Starr O’Brien, director of the Smile Like Jack Memorial Fund, said when Carlino asked them to help with the fair, they immediately said yes.
She said the program’s mission reminded her of when Jack was younger.
He was a hard worker from an early age: He started mowing lawns at age 13, got his license and was able to do more mowing work and start shoveling driveways, and built a house by age 19, O’Brien said.
When he passed away, they established the Smile Like Jack Memorial Fund to honor his legacy and help others in the community.
“This is a good initiative to let kids know they can achieve anything. If they put in the effort and work hard, they can achieve anything,” O’Brien said.
Save a little and have some fun, but the important thing is to know that anything is possible no matter what age you are, she said.
Pittsfield Public Schools students showed off their projects at Berkshire Community College last week.
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