Students' Entrepreneurial Skills Help Sandy Funding

What happens when you combine beads, brilliance and resilience? You get Beadzilliance; a clever play on words.

When four seventh-grade Warren Middle School students combined these things, they formed Beadzilliance, an entrepreneurial endeavor to help victims of Hurricane Sandy.

Beadzilliance is an informal kid company that sells handmade bead necklaces, earrings and bracelets with the mission to help people in need.

In November, the jewelry items were sold to the staff at Warren Middle School and all profits benefitted the American Red Cross.

Seventh graders Catherine Chen, Michelle Du, Eliana Neuwirth and Caitlyn Park, entrepreneurs of Beadzilliance, developed a business plan in their gifted and talented class.

During the two-week power outage in Warren, the girls planned out their marketing strategy, manufactured their handmade jewelry, and created a clever display to appeal to the teacher consumers. To date, Beadzilliance raised over $350 to donate to the Red Cross.

The popularity and quality of their products has inspired more students to join in on creating jewelry and their product line includes hand knit scarves and clothing.

In an effort to help others, these students used their talents to make a difference.

Submitted by Susan Cooper