By MIKE JAMES — The Independent
FRANKFORT — Schools in Carter, Elliott and Lawrence counties will be able to conduct entrepreneurial instruction programs in their elementary and middle schools thanks to a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission.
The three are among 18 counties to get the grant, which is a cooperative effort between the ARC and the Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy.
The commission awarded the grant to the Kentucky Entrepreneurial Coaches Institute, part of the University of Kentucky that works in Kentucky’s 41 tobacco counties.
The grant will fund teacher instruction and curriculum for a youth entrepreneurship education program called E-Discovery Challenge.
The program got a tryout last year in a small parochial school in Maysville. Students made and sold items for the Christmas bazaar at St. Patrick’s School in Maysville, said Ann DeSpain, the sixth-grade teacher there.
The children sold decorated headbands, potpourri, sachets, cookies and other items, DeSpain said.
“They learned that they can start a business even as young as they are,” she said.
They created ads, learned to count change, greet the public, answer questions and close sales.
Some of her students from last year have launched other ventures.
Business skills are valuable regardless of a student’s career path, according to Melony Furby, KECI’s community developer for entrepreneurship. “If they have an understanding of how to develop a business it can not only enhance their skills but also has the potential to impact the economy of our state.”
Other counties where the program will be implemented will be Bath, Lewis, Menifee, Morgan, Robertson, Wolfe, Casey, Clay, Clinton, Cumberland, Hart, McCreary, Monroe, Russell and Wayne.
MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or at (606) 326-2652.
