First-grade students make thousands, and will speak to thousands
First-grade students will headline a conference where 10,000 teachers are expected.
The kids at Elm Street Elementary School in Rome have garnered attention because of their business, which has raised more than $17,000.
They run Sugar Kids Beauty, making products with names like "Calming Coconut Lemongrass" and "Succulent Cinnaberry," and selling the facial scrubs at $10 a pop on their own slick-looking website.
Gilda Lyon, who oversees career, technical and agricultural education for the Georgia Department of Education, was so impressed that she invited them to speak at Georgia's annual STEM conference, Oct. 24-25 in Athens.
Lyon referenced the children during a "21st century workforce" forum at the Atlanta headquarters of General Assembly, a career training program in Ponce City Market.
Each class at Elm Street acts as a department of the company, learning about marketing, social media, finance, research, development and shipping. Profits go back into the business, fund school projects and are donated to local charities.
About the Author
Ty Tagami is a staff writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Since joining the newspaper in 2002, he has written about everything from hurricanes to homelessness. He has deep experience covering local government and education, and can often be found under the Gold Dome when lawmakers meet or in a school somewhere in the state.
