Glasses with pre-programmed virtual reality displays for a wide array of classic literature. A windshield that never freezes. Bubble gum that replaces vitamins and supplements.
These were just a few of the products invented by Centralia and W.F. West high school students at Lewis County Business Week, ran by nonprofit Kiddin’ Around at Centralia College this Monday through Thursday.
It was the first Business Week in five years to join the two often-rival schools.
On Thursday morning, potential “investors” (adult volunteers) and “businesses” (groups of students) filled the TransAlta Commons, sharing pitches and trading Monopoly money as companies vied for the “fattest stack” of cash, per the instructions of organizer Cameron McGee.
The annual statewide event joins high school juniors from participating schools for local chapters of a hands-on marketplace simulation. Throughout the week, teams assign students to positions, including CEO, head of sales and marketing director. Students invent a company and a product, making adjustments to quality, quantity and price over six fiscal quarters.
Payton Baumel, a Centralia student, served as CEO of “Better Bubble,” the medication bubble gum company. Her career dream is not actually to invent bubble gum medicine, Baumel said with a laugh, but “maybe medicine.”
Still, it opened her eyes to the variety of career opportunities waiting beyond education, she said.
On top of being a learning opportunity, Baumel said Business Week was fun. Her team make-up was half W.F. West Bearcats and half Centralia Tigers. Asked if there was any tension among them, all six students shook their heads, “No.”
The team’s biggest challenge, Baumel said, was learning to compromise after having so many different ideas.
“A lot of people I know that weren’t looking forward to it, it’s like, you get what you put into it,” Baumel said. “If you come, you show up and you don’t do anything, you’re not going to have fun, obviously. But I’ve had a lot of fun with the group I’m in.”
W.F. West junior Julia Dalan served as CEO for a company that invented a pepper spray Taser which calls the nearest law enforcement office when used. As opposed to an excited Baumel, Dalan was skeptical on the Monday of Business Week.
“I was definitely coming in with the mindset of that — the thing is, I knew I would not be put with my friends,” Dalan said. “It definitely was a lot better than I expected it to be.”
Dalan said she doesn’t imagine herself as a businesswoman down the road, but that the week’s lessons were nonetheless “very relevant.”
The program was previously hosted at Centralia College, but was halted during the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s Lewis County Business Week was the first rejoining of Centralia and Chehalis students at the college. With the Centralia College Trailblazers on winter break, each company was allowed to use its own classroom, giving students a taste of college life.
Last year, Business Week hosted Centralia students only at NW Sports Hub.
Kiddin’ Around, a local, family- and children-focused nonprofit, headed the program for the second year in a row. Its directors intend to run Business Week in perpetuity.
Asked her greatest takeaway from the week, Baumel said: “The fact that all these people that are here to help us don’t have to be. It’s just they want to help kids in the community and it’s getting us prepared for life after high school and after college and figuring out what we want to do.”
