Annually, sophomores in the Entrepreneur Anderson Scholars Program can take advantage of a unique opportunity to make sales calls and sell advertisements like a professional salesman. Furthermore, students receive a 50% commission of what they sell, so there is an added incentive to sell as many ads as they can. Students typically reach out to local businesses such as Kilgore Trout, a high-end apparel store, in order to sell ads.

In the Entrepreneur Anderson Scholars Program, it is a requirement for students to launch a microbusiness that generates at least a thousand dollars in revenue, and this opportunity in selling ads is where most sophomores seek to meet the obligation. These ads will be displayed in a booklet distributed to the hundreds of parents and alumni that attend the Celebrate Youth Entrepreneurship Fair at University School in April, where there is a keynote speaker with concessions and merchandises sold by US Lower students.

As a member of the ad sales team myself, I can say from experience that this unique opportunity is a lot of fun and truly an immersive experience. Calling wealthy business owners and executives as a high school student and pitching a sale to them sounds like an uncomfortable experience; however, I’ve found that trying to persuade them over phone calls and emails that their investment is worth it can be quite a bit of fun. Calling and emailing each other’s business-owning parents and friends in pursuit of a thousand dollars sold in advertising lets students learn what it is like to be part of the competitive marketing world. Certainly an experience that is hard to fathom from just classroom discussion, the sales team for sophomore Entrepreneur Anderson Scholars has been extremely valuable and enjoyable.