KHS seniors get to learn about business in ELA class

Kagman High School students in an English Language Arts class are not only learning how to improve their communication abilities, but are also learning how to be better business entrepreneurs.

This was the gist of the presentations Meena Benavente, a 12th grade ELA teacher at Kagman High school, and KHS senior James Castro did as guest speakers during the Rotary Club of Saipan’s weekly meeting at the Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan in Garapan last Tuesday.

In their presenations, Benavente and Casto not only presented the program to the Rotary but also invites Rotarians to partner with them by sharing with students their own experiences in the field of business.

Benavente said that, in light of the ongoing economic crisis, and based on what she learned last summer during a training opportunity, she wanted to help students learn these skills while learning to communicate effectively, which she said go hand in hand.

In a later interview, Benavente said the KHS project was sparked by a training opportunity she had in California over the summer called Project-Based Learning, which is geared toward bringing in real-world scenarios into the classroom.

“And so business is the big idea. Entrepreneurship is the big idea. But it’s also a way to help our students learn, like proper planning, budgeting, understanding credit, things that we might not be able to learn at home,” she said.

By exposing the students to business, they get to explore these matters firsthand and gain firsthand experience “so that right after graduation when we’re out there, we’re…aware of what possibilities we have,” she said.

She said she helps students learn business aspects in her class by using business reading and study materials as students work materials.

“Our students have to read a lot, right? There’s a lot of research involved, so there’s reading comprehension. They have to write a lot, so your writing skills are established. You have to research, so your research skills are all there. You’re communicating and networking, so your presentation and speech skills are being implemented. So anything essential to the English language, I believe, is all being properly incorporated within this project,” she explained.

Benavente said the project started in January, and the culminating project will happen at the beginning of May.

“I am deeply committed to empowering our students to build ambitious futures,” she added.

Benavente said that, by collaborating with the Rotary Club and having some of their members visit the class, Benavente said this would build the confidence of students to succeed in the real world.

“We’re trying to get business-related individuals to come in and talk about how they built their business from scratch and the challenges and how they keep it up. And, of course the challenges we foresee, but how we want to overcome them,” she added.

With an estimated 20-some students in each of her three classes, she feels proud of how far they’ve come. “My students have created and justified their business names, their business logo, and their business slogans. Right now, they are finishing up their business application, and they’ve identified the type of business they’re going to work on. …And now we have Bank of Hawaii coming in to simulate a loan so that our students can take out a loan to buy the equipment they need for their business,” she said.

‘Business is the big idea. Entrepreneurship is the big idea. But it’s also a way to help our students learn, like proper planning, budgeting, understanding credit, things that we might not be able to learn at home.’

Several Rotarians have agreed to lend their time and share their experiences with Benavente’s classes, while others directed them to resources such as the Small Business Development Center.

Castro, who is also a student in Benavente’s class and is an aspiring entrepreneur, said he’s grateful for the learning experience he’s gained since the beginning of the class in January.

“When Mrs. Benavente introduced the program, it was new. I’ve never experienced this from my other schools. …This is the first time, during my senior year that I’ve experienced this.”

He has loved the experience so far. “I like learning new things, like what a corporation is, what an LLC is, and the different liabilities that we have. I like learning new things about entrepreneurship.”

Castro is now a student intern at the Saipan Chamber of Commerce and he looks forward to having his own business someday, with something that’s focused on promoting the CNMI’s culture.

“I want to create a business that will help our heritage and tradition…because I feel like it’s getting lost. I want to cultivate our culture, traditions,” he said.

He hopes other schools will also give this sort of opportunities to their students. “I do hope for it to branch out to the other schools because I feel like entrepreneurship is something that isn’t really talked about, especially in an English class, which was something that was astonishing. So I feel like a lot of schools should get into this program.”