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VINEYARD — Dozens of elementary students in Vineyard got to try their hand at entrepreneurship as they pitched their ingenious products to local business owners in their own "Shark Tank."
Franklin Discovery Academy is a charter school in Vineyard that prides itself on offering hands-on learning experiences for its students. The students have a junior-high style education by choosing the classes they want to take, and for the last three years teachers Jamie Sarmiento and Camille Guertler have combined forces to create a "Shark Tank" experience for the students.
The experience is based on the highly popular TV show of the same name, in which entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to investors, or "sharks," to try and convince them to help fund their project or business.
The more than 80 students involved in the academy's version of "Shark Tank" spent the last few weeks brainstorming ideas, creating prototypes, and learning how to prepare an engaging presentation. Then during multiple sessions on Wednesday and Thursday, they had their chance to sink or swim with the sharks.
Sarmiento teaches literacy and Guertler teaches science. The "Shark Tank" experience "became our little brainchild of let's combine literacy and science to do something really fun and memorable for the kids," Sarmiento said.
Students entered the stage with the classic "Shark Tank" music and lights, gave their presentation, answered questions from the judges and were offered deals. The shark judges, a group of local entrepreneurs and business owners, gave constructive feedback and made the experience feel like they were actually buying the student's product ideas.
Sarmiento said the process starts by having students think of everyday routines, identify problems that occur and come up with solutions. From there, she teaches how to turn a persuasive essay into an engaging pitch presentation to hook the sharks, and Guertler helps the kids build prototypes.
The students use tickets to buy supplies for their prototypes and use that experience to strategize how expensive they'd sell their product for. Students got to negotiate prices with the sharks on how many tickets they'd be willing to invest to "buy" a percentage of the company.
"We make the experience authentic enough with our lights, with our music, with the way we present the event, with the entrepreneurs — and it really feels real to them. And I think it's something they will remember for the rest of their lives," Sarmiento said.
At the end of the whole experience, students get to use the tickets they acquired to buy prizes from a school store.
"They're all hypothetical ideas, but we actually get a lot of really great ideas coming out of these kids. It's really fun to watch the process," Sarmiento said.
The products created ranged from comfier headphones to chargers with multiple plugs to a condiment-topping conveyor belt to a subscription-based box filled with creative items.
Sarmiento said not many elementary-age students get opportunities to practice public speaking, and the event gives students confidence.
"These kids can come in, they are confident and get to celebrate their success. They genuinely feel like they have made a deal with an entrepreneur," she said.
Shark Amy Johnson has been a business owner for 30 years and said she loves the event and the impact it has on the kids. She loves the show "Shark Tank" and said having this hands-on experience for the students is beneficial for the students' growth.
Entrepreneur Mitch Page said, as a shark, he was looking for ingenuity, creative design and confidence in the students presenting.
"I think it really opens a window of opportunity for them that they don't necessarily get at other educational programs. It allows them to see life outside of school and education — what they are taking with them and what they're growing into and being able to see a career opportunity as well," he said.
Financial entrepreneur and judge Stacy Kent said the kids put in a lot of effort making commercials, posters and prototypes.
"A lot of ingenuity went into the process," she said. "I love that a lot of them were really, really nervous, but once they got up here and started, this was just a great experience for them in what they're going to be facing and doing in real life."
Kent said opportunities like this one teach children important life lessons in "outside of the box-type programs" that they wouldn't get in a traditional school. She thinks it's great Franklin Discovery Academy supports teachers in unique projects to benefit students.
Fifth graders Jace Beebe, Stanley Richins and Oliver Bateman scored a sweet deal with the sharks for their prototype of headphones that don't hurt your ears. The boys are avid gamers and said typical headphones will hurt, so their headphones have extra padding and cooling pads to keep the ears nice and comfy.
"It was terrifying, but it was amazing," Stanley said about their presentation.
"Very nerve-wracking, like my anxiety was really high," Oliver said.
Despite the nerves, the boys said they were proud of how they did. Two sharks offered them a deal where they got 500 tickets for 25% of their company, the highest-ticket deal during Wednesday's sessions.
The students said participating in this event makes them feel like it's possible to create and design new products and find success in the future.
