2011 Market Madness Photos

Business at Hand: Student Enterprise (StEP) Market Madness brings together students from 13 local schools to put their entrepreneurial spirit into practice.

Check our photos from our event!

Cincinnati, OH – More than 700 area elementary students from 13 local schools, representing diverse Cincinnati communities, put their entrepreneurial spirit to practice at the Market Madness event on Thursday, May 19 from 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. at the University of Cincinnati Recreation Center. All students participate in the Economics Center’s Student Enterprise Program (StEP) – a program in which students learn basic personal financial skills as they design and operate their own school economy.

The Market Madness event allows individual school “economies” to come together for a market day experience, including trade of products and services produced in student-run school businesses. StEP connects classroom work to the “world of work.” Elementary students in grades 3-6 get to interact with each other, buy and sell their products, and take a tour of the University of Cincinnati. Economics Center’s StEP program is currently serving 40 local schools, 21 of which are elementary school in the Cincinnati Public School District. Students get practical financial education and skills as classrooms are converted to small businesses and students as hold jobs, save, spend and invest school currency.

To get ready for this event, students organized businesses, interviewed for jobs and invested school currency to start their business ventures. Jewelry stores, science toys and personal journals are just some of the business enterprises that will be showcased on Thursday at the University of Cincinnati.

Since implementation in all 40 schools, Economics Center’s StEP program has improved attitudes, raised academic achievement of students in core academic curriculum, and improved attendance rates.