Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, Sam Walton, Walt Disney, James Schroeder ‘15. All of these people can be categorized as entrepreneurs, people who make use of available resources in an attempt to make a profit. Schroeder created the Entrepreneurship Club at Jesuit earlier this year to give students an opportunity to experience business and economics, and since its inception it has taken Jesuit by storm, gaining over 20 members this year.
Feeling that too many young adults enter the real world with little or no “experience with finance or entrepreneurship,” James sought to educate the Jesuit community about the lessons of business.
The members of the Entrepreneurship Club play a virtual stock exchange game, listen to famous speakers, take various field trips, and brainstorm business ideas in groups. During meetings, faculty moderator Mrs. Dea Ochs encourages James to lead group discussions and helps the club come up with business ideas or investment strategies for the stock exchange game, which gives exposure to Wall Street investing.
Occasionally, the club will host guest speakers from the Dallas business community, many of whom are Jesuit alumni, to offer wisdom and advice on finance and business. Impressed by the enthusiasm exhibited by the club’s guests, Ochs humorously remarks that the, “Jesuit alums had fallen over themselves asking to speak at an Entrepreneurship Club meeting.” However, the most exciting moments of the year came on the field trips, the biggest being a visit to T. Boone Pickens’s office. Read about it here.
The Entrepreneurship Club was built on the ruins of the Investment Club, which was disbanded after the 2013 school year due to a lack of initiative. Mrs. Ochs, who was also involved with the Investment Club, felt that the club had hit a wall and lacked direction. Seeing in James “an enthusiasm” that could revive the club, Mrs. Ochs agreed to sign off on his idea. She believed that the name change to the Entrepreneurship Club would broaden its goals to all of the economics and business world, rather than just the world of Wall Street.
Along with guest speakers and field trips, the club has been working on a business project all year. Together, the club’s members have developed a business plan to produce and sell Jesuit belts in the Ranger Connection Store. Sam Rosenberg ‘14 spearheaded the project, which included identifying a manufacturer, contacting potential donors for production costs, studying the market for the belts, and coming up with a plan for how to price and promote them.
Rosenberg worked with some parents of students in the club to raise capital to fund the project. Hoping to get the belts in the Ranger Connection store after Spring Break, Rosenberg expects the project to be a success, believing the belts will sell to not only Jesuit’s student body, but also some “faculty members and younger alumni.” Thus far, the project has shown promise and proven to be a great learning experience for the members of the club.
So far, Schroeder feels that the size of the organization is “just right at 15 to 20.” However, the club at this point consists mainly of juniors and seniors, and Schroeder hopes to open the club up to all grade levels in the future. Additionally, he hopes that the it will last long after he graduates, and that it will eventually evolve into one of Jesuit’s core clubs.
If you have an interest in economics or business, the Entrepreneurship Club provides a place for you to generate ideas with others and learn about finance and business, while gaining exposure into the world of entrepreneurship.
