Junior Achievement of British Columbia (JABC) recently announced that Cariboo Cookies, a student-run company from Lake City Secondary School has won the first ever Ledcor Group Rural Company of the Year Award.
Cariboo Cookies with students Sabrina Kyle, Pippa Reissner, Liam Fletcher, Carly Lange, Brady Gale and Dayton Ablitt sold gourmet fortune cookies and donated their net proceeds to the Boys and Girls Club of Williams Lake and District.
The six students participated in this Junior Achievement of British Columbia program with support from Linda Black, their marketing teacher, business mentors Paul Eves (Scotiabank) and Rhonda Hordiuk (BMO Bank of Montreal), and JA student alumni Tim Johnson, and Ryan Therrien (this year’s provincial Dr. Rix scholarship winner).
Black said that both the Cariboo Cookies and Ryan Therrien awards are exciting news for Lake City Secondary School Williams Lake Campus students and were presented during the school awards ceremony in June.
The Ledcor Group Rural Company of the Year Award is a new award which supports the Junior Achievement Company Program (CP) outside of metropolitan areas, reports JA marketing and communications manager Rosine Hage-Moussa.
CP is hands-on experience which complements high school business curricula. The program enables high school students to learn about business by planning, organizing and operating a small business venture.
In the space of one school term, students participate in the whole business cycle, from identifying a product or service through business planning, marketing and sales to final wrap-up and liquidation of their venture.
Cariboo Cookies sold JA company shares and advertising space in their school’s media outlets to raise seed funding.
They used a multi-faceted marketing strategy which included collaborations with community partners leading to coverage in their local media, helping to increase their product sales.
They exceeded their sales targets and sold out their inventory.