Utah Middle school students learning to think like Shark Tank founder

Getting funding from investors for a startup is a major challenge for most founders, including sixth graders from Draper Park Middle School, located in the Draper suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah, who are learning how to turn an idea into a business and pitch potential investors.

“I’m really excited because I think our company has a good shot at winning it,” said sixth grader Laynie Alleman. She and her classmates participated in the “It’s My Business” competition, sponsored by Junior Achievement of Utah and Idaho in partnership with CNBC. The Shark Tank-inspired competition drew coverage from the NBC affiliate KSL-TV. 

This financial education project is part of CNBC’s Cities of Success series, which explores cities that have transformed into business hubs with an entrepreneurial spirit that has attracted capital, companies, and workers.

Alleman’s team had the business idea for “Just Right Clothing Company,” which makes t-shirts with heating and cooling technology for maximum comfort. They competed with two other teams: One, called Wish Wash Pet Brush, designed an all-in-one grooming tool, and the other, 2 Lit 2 Sip, a multi-functional heating and cooling cup. 

The students brainstormed and developed business ideas in their classroom for three months. The competition, the culmination of their semester-long course, took place at JA City, an experiential learning center in Orem, Utah. 

Middle schoolers at Draper Park are required to study entrepreneurship as part of their coursework. Yet, only some schools incorporate financial education for this age group nationwide.

Utah was the first state to require a personal finance course for high school graduation back in 2004. Two decades later, 26 states require high school students to take a standalone, semester-long personal finance course before they graduate, according to Next Gen Personal Finance. 

“As important as high school financial education is, a lot can happen before students even get there,” said Laura Levine, president and CEO of Jumpstart, a national non-profit coalition advocating to increase financial literacy. “By introducing financial education earlier, we may at least introduce some important financial concepts to those who don’t get it later.” 

“I’m all about dreaming big and achieving our full potential,” said Hallo founder and CEO Joon Beh, a Korean immigrant who created an on-demand language learning platform that has helped over three million students and also works with companies to automate their language assessments. 

Beh was one of three local startup founders who served as coaches for the top teams of 11- and 12-year-olds as they honed their presentations. Then, the teams pitched their ideas to the competition judges: Olympic gold medalist Ashley Caldwell and three of Utah’s top business leaders. The animal-loving judges ultimately picked Wish Wash Pet Brush as the winner.

Minky Couture founder Sandi Hendry, one of the competition judges, said she knows from experience the impact learning about entrepreneurship can have on young students. She was a sixth-grade teacher for 30 years before founding the luxury blanket company in 2009. 

“When I taught sixth grade, we always did a unit on doing a business, because I always had an extreme interest in forming a business and entrepreneurship,” she said.

Hendry said she was amazed at “how inventive, how creative, and how just fabulous these kids can just put together thoughts and ideas. I think this is a great program for them, and they have such bright futures.”

“Middle school is an important time to teach personal finance,” said Levine, who is also a member of the CNBC Global Financial Wellness Advisory Board. Even in states where there is a financial education graduation requirement, if that state, or parts of that state, have high dropout rates, we could be missing a lot of students.”

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