WARREN, Ohio – Warren G. Harding High School senior Amirah Hudson enrolled in Inspiring Minds’ summer program as a fourth grader.
She’s attended each year since.
“I don’t think if I was in IM I would be doing anything, so just learning how to be more social and creating more bonds,” Amirah said of the experience.
She plans to attend college after graduation to study early education.
Tuesday marked the organization’s fifth summer market, the culminating event of the summer program.
“This is just an opportunity for our students,” said Jalaya Provitt, IM Warren’s program director. “They have learned how to be entrepreneurs for the last six weeks. They’ve been taking courses. They’ve learned about a lot, and now today is like the grand finale. It’s where they sell their products to the community.”
Products included tie-dye T-shirts, bucket hats, essential oils and keychains, as well as foods such as walking tacos, fried chicken, snow cones and ice cream.
“You name it, we basically have it here,” Provitt said. “We wanted them to almost have something for everybody. So anybody that comes through the doors leaves with something.”
The program included about 100 mostly Warren City Schools students from fourth through 12th grades.
Amirah worked on the marketing team for the summer market, creating videos and posters, promoting other students’ products. Even though marketing isn’t part of her career plans, she enjoyed the creativity involved.
Lincoln PK-8 School seventh grader John Gooch worked with his group to create and sell Wako Taco, a walking taco that can be customized to each customer’s request.
He’s been participating in Inspiring Minds programs since he was in third grade and said it’s fun and it gives him exposure to the world.
IM also has an afterschool program during the school year with a focus on education and wraparound services.
With the organization, John has visited Cuyahoga Community College and Morgan State University in Baltimore, where he may like to attend.
Egypt Darden and Jason Budreaus, fifth and third graders, respectively, at Jefferson PK-8, sold bucket hats with the IM logo for $12 each. Less than a half-hour into Tuesday’s market, two had already sold.
The two entrepreneurs picked Cut the Cap for their slogan, and through that selection process, Egypt learned the importance of originality in product taglines.
Provitt, the program director, said the summer program is about more than creating and selling a product.
“The hope is to give them confidence in what they do,” she said. “The last six weeks have not just been about teaching them how to be entrepreneurs, but having confidence. Go out and sell your product, market your product. That’s been the whole goal, so the end goal is just to really instill confidence in them so that, you know, with whatever they decide to go do, they have that extra vote of confidence in them.”
Pictured at top: From left are Inspiring Minds students John Gooch and Amirah Hudson, along with Jalaya Provitt, program director.