EHS Students Pitch to Sharks
Alexander Adams Takes the Shark Tank Show and Turns it into a Final Project
At EHS the teachers take it among themselves to implement fun activities into their classes to make the environment of learning special for each and every student. This year Alexander Adams, the current business teacher at EHS, brought this same creative mindset to his Enterprise Operations Management class. He has implemented creative ideas to incorporate a business plan throughout the first semester that at the end of the semester would be incorporated into their final. The idea that Adams created for these students’ final was to create a Shark Tank inspired presentation.
Alex Adams said, “If you look at the business plan in the terms of FBLA there is a written portion and a presentation portion; this project mirrors this and gives us a cool way to present their ideas in a super soft pitch in front of judges.”
Adams, being the leader of both FBLA and DECA, does a great job of incorporating the ideas of both of these clubs into his classes. The business world is very important to bring into students’ lives at this time in their lives. Having a teacher such as Adams to implement the real business world into students’ lives will help them in the future.
Andrew Loyd (26) said, “I didn’t necessarily love this project but Mr. Adams had a good idea with this Shark Tank idea.”
The students had a different opinion of this project than Adams had intended. Loyd didn’t like the judging process and how it affected the project. When watching the real life show, Shark Tank the judges are tough with the contestants, so the judges at EHS took it among themselves to be the same way. They took this task seriously and it had a tremendous impact on the final opinions the students had on this project
Trinity Salberg said, “I felt like the judges took it more seriously than it should have been, especially since Adams told us it was supposed to be for fun. If Adams did this in the future I would recommend for him to make it be more fun and actually be a grade.”
The students didn’t think this project came to the full fruition it should’ve, from the students’ standpoint they wished they would have had a final test instead. Although the ideas were there the losers of this contest didn’t think it turned out how it was supposed to be. Adams had the right intentions but overall the students were not in support of this project.
Alexander Adams said after the project, “I know the judging is kind of harsh, but with this project that was kind of my point. Someone who is not me that hasn’t seen their business plan all semester [is judging]. It’s good to have a different set of eyes that are being critical that have the nature of the Shark Tank show.”
The Shark Tank final project was a way to bring a common liked show and turn it into a project students would enjoy. Although all of the students didn’t necessarily like the project and would have rather had an alternative, lessons were learned from this assignment. The real world of business was brought out through this project and helped students grow and business men and women.
