Student Entrepreneurs Focus on Philanthropy

The Area Blue Entrepreneurship Company with Annika Johnson. (Front row, left to right) Brandon Stillman, Annika Johnson, Connor Duffy. (Back row, left to right) Evan Gresko, Trevor Reinhardt, Griffin Reinhardt and Andras Szakala. Submitted.

Philanthropy is an integral concept to incorporate into entrepreneurial ventures and business organizations. This semester, the five students in the Entrepreneurship Class at Gibraltar High School marketed Area Blue T-shirts whose tagline, “A New Brand of School Spirit,” generated interest and sales. They sold almost a hundred shirts and pledged one dollar of each T-shirt sold to the GO BO! Foundation.

The Entrepreneurship Class Company, comprised of Brandon Stillman, Connor Duffy, Andras Szakala, Griffin Reinhardt and Trevor Reinhardt, paid commissions, salaries and all expenses associated with operating their business. They financed the company by taking orders for the shirts in anticipation of the Area Blue night at a girls basketball game.

In addition, the Gibraltar business club, called GBAY/DECA, orchestrated its annual Homecoming Go Bo Fundraiser last fall. At the Homecoming game, kids purchased opportunities to throw glow-in-the-dark bean bags into a corn-hole board lined with lights to win prizes. The event raised close to $150, and GBAY/DECA matched those funds. Group members presented Annika Johnson, Bo’s mom and GO BO! Foundation board member, with a check for $300 on Jan. 18.