Girls Inc. provides business and entrepreneurship education to eighth graders

ST. LOUIS — A group of 13- and 14-year-old girls are learning about global supply chains, personal branding and accountability through a new hands-on program designed to engage young women in business early and nurture their interest.

Girls Inc. of St. Louis has partnered with the University of Missouri-St. Louis and First Bank to launch a five-year program to give St. Louis girls exposure to the business world.

“We’re learning what 20-year-olds are learning!” said Layne Jones, a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Cross Keys Middle School.

The girls have career goals that range from working with animals to opening a trendy clothing boutique selling flared pants and more.

The participants were 15 of the “best and brightest” students selected from University City, Normandy and Jennings middle schools, said Cheryl Jones, president and CEO of the local Girls Inc.

“This is an investment in (the program’s) future,” Jones said. “We’re helping them understand why it needs to exist.”

Jones said organizers asked girls already involved with the local chapter of the national nonprofit Girls Inc. to help develop the program.

“The girls were our guides, so we asked them what they were looking for,” Jones said.

The conclusion? Business class.

Jones said the school’s superintendent, principals and counselors compiled a list of outstanding students who expressed interest in starting a business, and she interviewed the students and their parents.

The group began a six-week summer program last month and has been meeting for six hours a day, five days a week ever since, learning three new college-prep business modules per week. They plan to resume the intensive program each summer.

Carla Jordan, director of undergraduate advising and student services in UMSL’s School of Business, said she was excited to see the young women digest the information, sometimes faster than their professors.

“Their opportunities aren’t limited to what’s around them,” said Ellen Dearberg Milne, First Bank’s board chairwoman.

Golden Curtis, an eighth-grader at Pattonville Heights Middle School, dreams of starting his own toy business to make toys for underprivileged children.

“I was saddened when I went to a toy store and saw a kid who couldn’t buy a Barbie,” Curtis said. “Every kid deserves to have a childhood, no matter how much money they have.”

The girls also take weekly field trips to local businesses such as Nestle and First Bank.

The group will continue to meet in monthly sessions during the academic year.

“I don’t want this to just be a class, I want this to have a profound impact throughout their formative years,” Milne said.