With last week's announcement of yet another local student-run business receiving award recognition, some may be wondering if there's a trend in Weyburn of young entrepreneurs. Each year, Weyburn Comprehensive School's Entrepreneurship 30 Teacher, Margot Arnold, walks her students through the full process of running their own business. While Arnold said her students get what they put into the business, the consistent achievements indicate that more is going on behind the scenes to encourage these successes.

Arnold said the number of Entrepreneurship 30 classes each year depends on student demand, and sometimes the entire class chooses one business to do together, while other times it is split into two businesses.

"[Junior Achievement Canada] says you can do a product or a service," she explained. "However, it's harder to do a service when you have the one hour a day in class, and it's not to say it can't be done, because there have been, but then all of their work would be mostly outside of a designated time frame, evening or weekends."

Arnold said at the outset of the project, she has her students consider the work involved.

"They have to have enough people willing to take on management roles, because every company needs a president and co-president, and somebody who will take on VP of each of the six areas finance, H.R., production, environmental health and safety, I.T., and sales and marketing," Arnold said.

She said the number of students doesn't matter as much for successful outcomes as does the number of people willing to go outside their comfort zones.

"One person, I know, Lauren Labbie, she was co-president and VP of Finance, and won for both of those roles," Arnold noted. "So, it depends if you're willing to put time in outside of the class. Some have come in on their spares. Some, it's their baby, and they find a niche where they maybe didn't have one before."

Arnold said she's supposed to guide her students without saying too much.

"If they make mistakes, they do, and they can learn from them so if they ask me my opinon I will give it, but I also have them try and seek out mentors and look at businesses that are doing well, and why are they doing well? What have they done?"

She said the most successful companies her students have created have had strong leaders.

"You have to be organized and have that vision, as well as to lead and motivate your company team, so the ones that are very involved have the time management, they have organizational skills, and people skills, and those are all put together for success," she shared.

"Every year is different, and you get quite a makeup in the class of different skill sets, different abilities etc so they have to learn to work as a team and that is an interesting first time real world situation for many of them."

Arnold said while she has seen a lot of growth especially for those who allow her to push them outside of their comfort zones, it ultimately comes down to the students' work ethic.

"They get excited when they see the sales, they get excited when they have the production and then it grows, so it also depends on the individuals," she commented. "Sometimes that spurs it on, because I've had, like I think Megan and Onello, they were almost competing against each other for who could bring in the most sales, and I get that competition sometimes, too."

She said one would think that with 30 students, they could accomplish even more, but the work does have to be split 30 ways.

"And it depends on if you're the early worm, and you get out there and you hustle," she noted. "Some people, that's just not for them. So they'll put more time maybe into production, or I'll have them partner up with someone who is good at that, and then they can learn from them."

Arnold said that unless there's a legality to consider, she allows her students to learn through trial and error and to track what they did differently after first attempts, as the award criteria does include growth-tracking.

"I say try things, it may not work, but this is a safe environment, and go ahead and do it. So, I do push them to try new things, look at other business models, see what they're doing, and try to be innovative. Not to copy, but to put their unique spin on it," she shared.

When it comes to Weyburn students winning awards each year, there is another aspect some don't consider: the students have to apply for the awards.

"I always have pushed my students to apply for these. I say, 'even if you do not win, it's like a motion picture that says nominated for best picture'. Your class votes, but then you still have to prepare your application to warrant why you would be chosen."

"On the resume you can put 'nominated for the VP of Finance Award of Excellence through the JA Business Hall of Fame awards, even if you do not win, because you were nominated, so I said, that stands out on a resume," she added.

As an example, Madison LaFoy won this year's Junior Achievement Professional Leadership Award for Soup 'R' Snacks.

"Madison had to do her video on, 'What does leadership mean to me?', so it'd be a very individual, personal answer for her. And then she was able to provide examples to back up why she thought she'd be a suitable candidate for that award," Arnold shared.

Read more about this year's winners HERE and last year's winners HERE. The stories go back a number of years, and they all point to bringing together many ideas and people.

"Sometimes you have a lot of different personalities, so they do differ from company to company as to what they will accomplish," she noted. "Sometimes you come out with really, really good friendships that you would never have worked with in other classes, which is very cool as well."