GW Business partnered with a DC high school and SuitUp, a program featuring best-in-class experiential education, to provide day of hands-on on-campus activities anchored by a business case challenge.
Thirty-seven students from Washington Leadership Academy, a public charter school focused on science and technology, took part in the April challenge to design new products and services for Coca-Cola. The assignment was coordinated by staff at the F. David Fowler Career Center. Volunteers from four GW student organizations—Fowler Coordinators, the GW Undergraduate Consulting Group, Alpha Kappa Psi professional business fraternity and the Sports Business Association—coached the students on issues related to marketing, design, financing and other elements of the case challenge.
“The students loved it,” said Washington Leadership Academy teacher T’Alfra Holmes, who coordinates all the extracurricular activities at the high school. “The group we had was very competitive. They wanted to show a different side of Coca-Cola, to bring something different to the table. They also wanted bragging rights for the school."
Holmes said most of the participants were ninth, 10th and 11th graders. Holmes, who teaches two 12th grade research classes, said she made an effort to select students who may not ordinarily have an experience outside of the school building.
In addition to the experiential learning aspect of the day, the one high school senior taking part received community service credit for participating.
SuitUp is designed to give students exposure to the responsibilities of the corporate world and foster interest in careers in business, especially among students from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in the corporate world. SuitUp’s goals dovetail with the School of Business’s commitment to narrowing race and gender gaps in corporate leadership.
“A lot of these kids want to go to college but they also have an entrepreneurial mindset,” Holmes explained.
Jolie Brown, a senior career consultant with the F. David Fowler Career Center, led the logistics for the daylong activities, which she described as “high energy.” She said it was impressive and inspiring to see the young students’ business acumen.
“It would have taken eight to 10 true business meetings to pull off what they did in two hours.
They already know things like key performance indicators,” Brown said. “I thought it was just so great to see students who might not otherwise be exposed to business … to see what they learned come alive and crystalize into actionable business plans.”
Holmes said the high school students were thrilled to learn that one of the four judges at the event was a Coca-Cola executive.
“That was the biggest surprise—an actual person from the company—and it brought the entrepreneurship to life, to have someone from the company giving good feedback,” she said.
The winners of the challenge received gift cards. After the competition, students took an hour-long tour of the School of Business “in case they want to apply one day and now might see a future for themselves in business,” Brown said.
Back at the Washington Leadership Academy, during an all-school town hall-style meeting, the students discussed their GWSB experience, and getting more students to get involved next year.
“I think that this experience is a great opportunity for high school students, even middle school students, because it shows them how to work in a collaborative effort, how things can be accomplished if you put your mind to it,” Holmes said. “It’s also a great experience for the college students because this is their wheelhouse, and they are given an opportunity to give back to their community and to share what it takes to be a business student.”