TREP$ Marketplace is today

Byram Intermediate School will hold a TREP$ Marketplace on Friday, Dec. 15 at the school.

TREP$ is a nationwide organization that teaches students about entrepreneurship as well as a wide range of business skills, including marketing and product development.

This year, the fifth- and sixth-graders went through the program. They will sell the products they have created to the community at the Marketplace.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for these kids to learn about business and actually have the chance to implement it by creating and selling a product,” said Julie Lucente, one of the organizers of the PTA-sponsored program.

Student Ryan John said he is happy that he took part in the program.

“I love learning the process to making my own money. I can’t wait for the marketplace to sell our stuff.”

Caleigh Yaeger will be selling homemade yarn gnome ornaments.

“TREP$ is a fun program where we can learn how to run and be involved in a business,” she said. “It involves a lot of effort and patience. I hope my hard work pays off.”

Kristian Masterbone said the program is very satisfying.

”TREP$ is very fun because you get to design your own business and product and try to sell it,” she said. “I like to make my own money.”

Project-based learning

TREP$, an acronym for enTREPreneur$, is a project-based learning program that teaches students in grades five through eight how to start businesses.

The program was started in Oak Ridge, when Jack Romano, then 10, wanted another set of Legos. His mother, Hayley, encouraged him to earn the money on his own. The boy accepted the challenge and, as TREP$ tells the story, “prepared for his first business launch by booking a space at a local vendors’ market.”

“As he began production of hand-stamped wrapping paper, he realized he could use some more hands. His friend and classmate Hans soon came on as Jack’s business partner. The young entrepreneurs quickly sold out of their product and happily profited $35 each.”

The boys’ mothers, Hayley Romano and Pamela deWaal, were proud of their sons and realized an opportunity to teach children some business basics and seeing by doing.

They piloted TREP$ at Paradise Knoll School in Oak Ridge in 2006.

It won the New Jersey PTA’s Champion for Children Award and was a top five finalist for the National PTA’s Phoebe Apperson Hearst Award.