THOUSANDS OF REASONS TO SAY THANKS — Fourth-grade students at Toronto Elementary School created their own business as a school project for Market Day. The class made $2,214 and voted that the money go to the Jefferson County Humane Society rather than keeping the proceeds to use themselves. Those on hand for the check presentation on May 22 included, from left, Brandi DeNoon-Damewood, development manager of JCHS and Sprout; students J.R. Williams, Brody Calhoun, Giana Leone and Kinsley Humphrey; Raegan Stead, fourth-grade math teacher; and Kat Eddy, shelter manager. -- Contributed

TORONTO — Fourth graders. They are usually around the age of 10.

Their interests can vary, ranging from being on social media sites to texting friends, visiting an amusement park or playing video games. Their options are endless.

But the end result is always pretty much the same … fourth graders simply want to have fun and enjoy being a kid while they still can.

So, when fourth graders at Toronto Elementary School were asked how they wanted to use the money they had earned through a special school project, their decision was one that surprised everybody.

No, this wasn’t just your typical pizza-party-in-the-classroom type of earnings they had accumulated.

SMALL ENTREPRENEURS — Toronto Elementary School held its first Market Day event on May 21 in the school’s gymnasium. Fourth-grade students created a business where they sold merchandise and learned about the business world. A total of $2,200 was raised through the day’s sales. Proceeds were then donated to the Jefferson County Humane Society following a vote on where the funds should go. Among the options were a food pantry, having a fourth-grade party at the end of the year or donating to their Field Day on the final day of school. -- Contributed

This was more. Much more.

The students declined donating the money toward the purchase of a fun activity the entire school could take part in during their Field Day event held on the last day of school.

They even said “no” to spending the money on a fun activity for themselves during their final week of classes prior to summer vacation.

Each fourth grader cast their vote and selected what they wanted the money to be used for.

Their decision? The money should go toward helping homeless animals.

A LOOK AT WHO THEY HELPED — Fourth-grade students at Toronto Elementary School received a visit from Development Manager Brandi DeNoon-Damewood of the Jefferson County Humane Society and Sprout, a recent addition to the shelter. Damewood brought the puppy to the school to show the children exactly who they were helping through their $2,200 contribution to the shelter. -- Contributed

So what was this project the school decided to undertake during the final month of the school year?

According to math teacher Raegan Stead, the school opted to incorporate its first Market Day event, which was held May 21. This unique project was done by the entire fourth grade and held in the school’s gymnasium.

Parents were notified about the project and told they had to work with their child and determine what type of business they would like to have. Once their agreed-upon decision was made, the parent and child had to contemplate what kind of items they could make or purchase and sell through that business at the school.

“We used to do this as just a classroom project,” Stead explained. “The students would create their own business and their own 3-D model inside a box.”

She said this year, teachers decided to attempt an actual market, adding it was easier to break the project up between the classes. Throughout the two weeks prior to the Market Day event, the students prepared during classes.

They completed various activities during social studies, math and reading.

They worked alongside their parents and created ideas, while formulating a plan. In class, the boys and girls learned about vocabulary terms, such as consumer, producer, goods and services.

The classes attended a virtual field trip where they saw an actual business and learned how the company runs and operates on a daily basis.

During the planning stages, the students created their own business plan. They developed a slideshow which provided specific information about their business, such as the business name, its logo which they designed, a description of what the business was, details of what their ideal employee would be like and wrote customer reviews about their products. Students also learned how to use different online tools to create a business brand and a cohesive slideshow.

Stead noted local businesses from throughout Toronto paid a brief visit to the school and talked with the students about what it is like to run a business. They remained afterward to answer any questions.

Among those taking part were Riley Fisher of Paws and Claws Pet Care, Alicia Troski of Primary Print, Abigail LeMasters of Tri-Bs and Phil Livingston, owner of Baby-Boyz.

Students came up with questions to ask based on what they needed to include in their slideshow presentation. They sought out the answers on how to set prices, how to advertise and ways to provide good customer service.

After finalizing their business plans, including their items and price lists, each fourth grader created posters to display at their Market Day station in the gym.

Examples of items being sold were baked goods, cotton candy, customized trail mix, slushies, bracelets, magnets, keychains, pepperoni rolls, cookies and slime.

Pupils in kindergarten through fifth grade at the elementary school were invited to shop at the market with their parents.

One of the day’s businesses was a company called Fruitfully Yours.

Jessica Chipps and Rebecca Young came up with the concept after Young had brought in dehydrated fruit as a snack. The two realized they both had fruit dehydrators at home and could sell different kinds of fruits for Market Day. Together, they sold kiwi, strawberries, bananas, cinnamon apple slices and regular apple slices. They offered three different bag sizes and gave out free stickers with each purchase as a marketing strategy.

Joseph Williams worked with his mother for the business Magnetized Pages, which centered around Joseph’s love of comic books. He created different sized magnets containing comic book clips, where parts of comics were cut out and glued to canvases with magnets placed on the back. There were five sizes of magnets to choose from, with each priced accordingly.

S&A Sips and Sweets was a business created by students Skylar Summers and Adalynn Bates. The duo decided to combine their two separate ideas and form one business.

Summers and her mom provided fruit punch and tea. Bates made cake waffles using a secret recipe. They offered their customers a deal where if you bought one cake waffle from Bates, you would receive a drink from Summers for $1.

James Jones recalled the time when he was younger and visited a beach which had a spray paint artist working on the boardwalk. A crowd had gathered to watch and Jones thought to himself, “This is what I want to do when I am older.”

He decided to test his business theory during Market Day … a perfect opportunity to see if his dream could one day become a reality.

Jones named his business Spray Paint Studio. He and his father purchased canvases and spray-painted outdoors. Stead noted Jones did not design the works beforehand, but rather, created a different, new design for each person — a total of 16 original artworks in all. He also made approximately 50 balloon animals because as he explained, he knew who his target consumers were, and children love balloons.

Stead said the children learned a lot about how to operate a business.

The teachers said they, too, learned a lot this first year of doing Market Day and have already discovered some ways on how to improve it for next year.

She said third graders were already approaching her before classes ended on May 30, talking to her about what they want to do for their projects when they are fourth graders this fall.

As far as everyone was concerned, the teachers, parents, students and recipients of the funding, they believe that the first Market Day event was a complete success.

All of the proceeds raised through the Market Day event were to be collected and donated to the Jefferson County Humane Society.

“The humane society won with an overwhelming majority vote,” Stead stated. “The students love animals and were very excited to be able to help them.”

Brandi DeNoon-Damewood, development manager at the JCHS, was unable to attend the actual Market Day event on May 21.

She did visit the school the following day, bringing with her Sprout, a new addition to the shelter and one of a litter of 10 that is housed in the Wintersville building.

“I am completely blown away with this incredible gift from these young entrepreneurs,” Damewood began. “It means so much to us that these students chose JCHS to donate their earnings. They worked so hard on making and curating the merchandise they sold. The only incentive was to help the animals in our community. These are the beautiful minds that will help us put an end to animal cruelty in the future.”

“We are forever grateful for this gift, the students who worked tirelessly, their teachers and the Toronto City School District for their curriculum that incorporates compassion and empathy into the lessons,” Damewood concluded. “My heart is bursting with pride for these incredible students and for my alma mater — the Class of ’98.”

So why did the children decide on the Jefferson County Humane Society?

Just asked a child.

“I wanted to donate to the humane society because this money will help find animals homes,” fourth grader Sheamus Lamantia stated. “But while they are at the shelter, I want them to have toys and treats so that they can enjoy their life and have a good time playing with other animals. I also want them to have beds so they can sleep comfortably.”

“The reason why I wanted to donate the money to the humane society is because I love animals,” added classmate Luke Sipes. “They are cute and need food and water. Some need surgery and medicine. They also need toys and beds so they feel more at home.”

Sipes is the perfect example of how even fourth graders are always thinking ahead.

In regards to the donation going toward the shelter, he explained the volunteers and staff “need money for good advertisements so that people can see the animals that are up for adoption.”

Giana Leone had her own thoughts on why her classmates should give their business proceeds to the animal shelter.

“I wanted to donate to the humane society because some animals don’t have homes or have to live on the streets. The shelter needs money to help those animals have toys, food and other supplies.”

“It is truly amazing that these children chose empathy over having fun stuff for themselves,” Damewood said of the students’ decision on what the money should be used for.

Yes, perhaps on that list of what 10-year-olds like to do, we should revise that and add helping animals and showing compassion right at the very top.