Sparta — With a smile on his face, a focused glint in his eye, and a practiced air of poise and professionalism, sixth-grader Tyler Witter stepped right up to greet students and parents during Sparta Middle School’s recent business showcase event.
“Hello! Would you like to learn about our business?” Tyler asked visitors in the crowded cafeteria before launching into a speech about Water Works Irrigation, the business he and his fellow group members researched for their project.
The showcase tasks students in Kristyn Sack and Jenna Conlin’s sixth-grade Language Arts classes with researching an area business, conducting interviews with one of its representatives, and planning a presentation about the business for their fellow students as well as parents and community members.
Every year during the annual showcase, attendees vote on their favorite groups. The top 10 go on to present before a panel of school board members and administrators, and the panel decides on an overall winner.
Tyler, who seemed utterly at ease while giving presentations, said he had something of a secret weapon: “I’ve done dance for eight years — and plays — so I’m used to being on stage and talking in front of a bunch of people.”
Clearly, his skills worked in his group’s favor. His group — which also included Josie Schmid and Ellie Nemetz — won first place.
The trio’s setup featured an actual rain sensor provided by Water Works Irrigation, which they used as a prop.
“Rain gets in here, and it notifies the owner’s phone,” Josie said, gesturing to the device during the middle-school showcase event.
“And this is a leak detector,” she added with another motion of her hands. “It senses the leaks and tells everyone to go and fix them so we don’t waste water.”
Working as a Group
This year’s showcase featured student-led presentations on a slew of different companies, from massive operations like mLive and Biggby Coffee to local businesses like Spartan Graphics, Sparta Tire & Automotive, BattleGR Tactical Games and many more.
‘It kind of just gives them some real-world experience, where they have to present and they have to advocate for their business.’
— sixth-grade teacher Jenna Conlin
McKenna Labra, Alex Laarman, Marley Parmeter and Taylor DeBoer researched and presented on Meijer State Games, and the team was quick to rattle off fun facts about the organization.
“They offer a bunch of different sporting events,” said Taylor. “There’s, like, 60 different sports, and every winter and summer they host a bunch of different games that anybody and everybody can compete in, no matter how athletic you are or how old you are.”
She said her favorite part of the project was learning more about the organization her group covered. The most challenging aspect of the project was memorizing all the details about the organization’s mission and history.
“I really enjoyed creating the poster and knowing more about the business,” added McKenna. “Putting all of this together takes a lot of time, and it was really difficult at first, but then it got really fun at the end.”
Alex said she didn’t know about Meijer State Games prior to the project, and she appreciated having an opportunity to learn about the organization.
Jaxon Knop, who presented on Sparta Tire alongside groupmates Wyatt Roberts and Chase Taylor, said the best part of the project was “doing the work with my friends … and working together as a group.”
Picking up Skills
Conlin and Sack, the teachers who organized the showcase, said the project encourages the development of practical skills like interviewing, researching, public speaking, networking and more.
“It kind of just gives them some real-world experience, where they have to present and they have to advocate for their business,” Conlin said. “They have to write papers, they have to work in a group, they have to present their findings. … And we talk about hard skills and soft skills that you would need to work at these businesses.”
She said the scope of the work involved in the project can be intimidating to students at first.
“When we first start the project, the kids have a hard time. It’s like, you are sitting down with a real person that works at that business, and it’s always like, ‘whoosh,’” Conlin said, swooping her hand over her head to illustrate students feeling out of their depth.
But once the work starts, and the project goes from abstract to concrete, students usually come around.
“It ends up usually being a favorite for the sixth-graders at the end of the year,” she said, “and parents usually really like it.”
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