Carmel High School seniors seek to ignite an interest in business

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Carmel High School seniors Claire Qu and Meg Shaffer want help to mentor middle school students on business concepts.

Shaffer said they started planning to do that in July 2021 and launched the Ignite initiative in October.

“It’s a community project that Meg and I wanted to take on,” Qu said. “We noticed at the middle schools there weren’t any business classes or business clubs like we have at the high school. We wanted to change that and bridge that gap.”

CIC COM 0412 Ignite Qu
Qu

During the monthlong program, the seniors visited the middle schools after their own high school classes were done.

“We taught different lessons on business concepts, from marketing to finance to how to deliver a business pitch or presentation,” Qu said. “Students got to learn business concepts that can help them in high school.”

Ignite organized a competition at the end of the month where students made their pitches.

“Some of them have inventions, some of them have community initiatives,” Qu said.

One idea was a bus tracking app for Carmel Clay Schools that could alert students when their bus was on its way.

“Another group had an idea of a community garden, so at Clay Middle School they would have a garden where kids would help out and take care of the garden,” Qu said. “The food could be donated or go to the middle school cafeteria.”

The middle school students from Clay and Creekside would work on the projects in teams.

Judges at the competition included Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard, CCS Assistant Supt. Roger McMichael and other business professionals.

One of the winners was the bus tracking app idea.

“We tried our best to make it happen, but we couldn’t get it approved (by CCS),” Qu said.

The other winner was a peer tutoring program.

“They had the idea of having high-achieving students who wanted to help others create a program at Clay, where they help other students who needed more assistance in a certain subject,” Qu said. “(The tutors) could do this for volunteer hours, and at the end of the school year there would be a celebration for them.”

CIC COM 0412 Ignite Shaffer
Shaffer

Qu said the plan was approved by Clay Middle School Principal Todd Crosby and recently launched.

Shaffer said there were two rounds of competition.

“The six finalists then presented in front of the judges, and those were the two winners,” Shaffer said.

Qu said all the middle school students showed they could use problem-solving skills.

Shaffer and Qu used the Ignite initiative for the business organization DECA state competition, earning first place in the career development category. They advanced and will present it at the international competition April 23-26 in Atlanta.

“We are very proud of Ignite as we wanted to introduce the entrepreneurial mindset to the youth in Carmel, an opportunity that very few get,” Qu said. “Through Ignite, we got students thinking about ways to improve their community, and students began to realize that they and anyone can make a difference in their city.”

Qu said she and Shaffer would love to see other CHS students take over their initiative when they go to college. There were approximately 50 middle school participants.

“We had a couple high school students come with us each week to meet with the students and give feedback on their proposals,” Shaffer said.

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