On Tuesday, November 13th, Charger Market Day made its annual return. Market day, a simulation put on by the senior economic classes, is where students become the buyers and sellers of a market. Students in Ms. Green and Coach Hornik’s regular Economics and Government classes produced an array of foods, homemade products and knick-knacks. 

“The idea of market day is to have students [demonstrate] entrepreneurial spirit and how small businesses work,” Ms. Green said. “They have to come up with an idea, advertise it, manufacture it, and ultimately, see if they can make money off of it.”

One of those students, Sophie Avery (12), created and sold poetry magnets. Avery claimed she had to “haggle” her poetry magnets, and that the whole thing “felt bazaar.”

“I created a product, sign and ad for [my] product using ‘Charger Bucks’,” Avery said.

Another Economics student, Asher Lilley (12), sold a product called “Floam”.

“It’s basically slime with Styrofoam beads inside of it,” Lilley said.

The students in the government classes are the buyers, the ones who simulate the purchasing aspect of the products with the given “Charger Bucks.” Some elective classes are given the chance to attend as well.

“I thought [market day] was really cool, and I would like to do it some day. I [will] take Economics my senior year, and I was thinking about what I would sell, and no one had coffee. I figured people would want that early in the morning, so that’s probably what I would make,” Sydney Baggot (9) said.

Some students were impressed with the numerous products.

“It was my first time experiencing market day. My first impression was that I was a little overwhelmed. There [were] a lot of [products], and I only had five dollars,” Kaden Senter (9) said. “I saw immediately that they had plants, so I bought a plant.”

Market day, though, isn’t just about the desserts you get to eat or the “Floam” you get to play with in other classes.

“It teaches these students how hard a business is to run. It teach[es] them business skills. [The students] learn a lot of things like cost of production, marketing, advertising. We learn about how difficult it is to come up with ideas that will be successful,” Coach Hornik said,

The beginning of market day originally came from Ms. Green herself because it was something she did at her old school.

“It’s similar to the carnival here. We use Charger Bucks instead of tickets, so it’s a little different, but since [market day] is after carnival, we use that as a learning experience to price their own stuff,” Green said.

The whole lesson behind the student simulation is “economic principles” according to Ms. Green.

“We go over supply, demand, profit loss, and the small business [angle]. I told my class if it’s a project they didn’t really enjoy, then they’ll probably end up working in corporate America because they don’t want to work for themselves. Some really like it and want to have their own business one day,” Ms. Green said.

Market day is a way to help students decide what they want they want to do in the future, and for some students, it became clear.

“My favorite thing about [market day] was when my friends were coming up to me and talking with me about my product. These kinds of interactions aren’t normally the side of me that my friends see, but it was fun,” Lilley said.

Market day will see its return next year for the class of ’20.