Students in Michael Esch's entrepreneurship class at Manheim Central High School earned real-world experience in marketing and selling a product, supporting a charity, and even writing and performing a rap song.

As a class, the students designed and sold school spirit hoodies to raise money for Oceana, an organization dedicated to protecting the world's oceans. Senior Barend Oostdam create a rap that was performed during morning announcements. Thanks to his efforts and those of his classmates, the class raised $5,500 for the charity in the process.

"The rap focused on the due dates for the sale and the importance of the organization we were supporting," Barend noted, adding that he believes Oceana's work lobbying for new laws and focusing on vulnerable areas is making a difference.

The 10th-, 11-, and 12th-grade students in the class chose to sell hoodies after voting as a class on a variety of proposed items. In the past, students in the class have sold T-shirts, hats, travel mugs, and more, raising a total of $33,000 for charity since 2009.

This is Esch's first time teaching the course. The entrepreneurship project was the vision of Edward Herbert, who retired last year. "The goal of this class is for the students to experience in a small way what it's like to operate a real-life business from start to finish," Esch stated. They did everything from creating the hoodie design to marketing and selling to the Manheim Central School District community, handling money, creating a spreadsheet of orders, and working with Elizabethtown Sporting Goods for supplies.

Junior Morgan Kreider was instrumental in the project. "Keeping all of the information straight on the spreadsheet was a challenge, but it was a lot of fun," she said, adding that she often stayed after school to work on the project.

This year presented some unique challenges for the class, Esch noted, including global shortages of inventory and supplies and having to pick and pack orders in Esch's temporary classroom while the high school is under construction. Still, the class persevered and together they sold about 875 hoodies, generating $22,000 in sales. The profit of just over $5,000 will be donated to Oceana.

Esch said he's proud of the leadership skills demonstrated by the students throughout the project. "We had students who helped on Saturdays and after school," he stated. "Some of them were super conscientious to make sure it all came together. It takes maturity and responsibility to pull off a project like this."

For senior Summer Guntz, the class offered a taste of experiences that will enhance her future career. "I want to attend culinary school after graduation and I want to open my own bakery, so this class provided real-world business experience for me," she said.

Senior Connor Caterbone learned details about graphic design through the project as well as some of the fundamentals of running a business. "Working on the design was new to me, but it was a lot of fun," he said. "The challenging part of this project was not making mistakes and also keeping our customers happy."