Issues: What is the situation? Who cares and why?

Conway Middle School is part of the JCPS school system located in Louisville, KY. It is a Title 1 school. The majority of the students (about 75%) are economically disadvantage. The minority enrollment is 47% of the student body, which is higher than the Kentucky state average of 24%. Conway Middle placed in the bottom 50% of all schools in Kentucky for their overall test scores, and about 95% of their student population is considered “not gifted and talented”. These students may not be given the same resources, as they would be in other schools. Working for Extension, we have to focus on serving and strengthening under-served communities to improve the quality of life in individuals. 

Response: What has been done? Summarize your program, project, or response to the issue. 

In collaboration with Ms. Louis “Jenie” Carter, Mr. Louis Milligan, and the FRYSC (Family Resource & Youth Service Center) Coordinator for Conway Middle School, students received a variety of hands on activities that taught them some basic life skills and career preparedness. I worked with two students who wanted to start their own business and helped them to create a simple business plan, along with providing them with information about entrepreneurship. 

Results/Impact: How has your response affected the user/stakeholders involved with the issue?

I was able to provide students with entrepreneurship skills that would help them generate revenue for themselves. While speaking with these students, I was able to help them create a simple business plan that they understood, so they could continue to develop their businesses. One of them was planning on selling homemade soap and scrubs at their local farmers market and eventually moving their business online. The other student had a lawn mowing business in their neighborhood and was planning to use the money they made from their lawn mowing to invest in other landscaping equipment such as a leaf blower so they could continue to stay in business throughout the year. These business plans taught them about planning, making investments, how to market their products/services, selling, and how to generate and increase their profit. I was able to provide them with a basic understanding of how businesses work and therefore, this provided them with the confidence to grow their business and continue make decisions that will benefit them.