I. SUMMARY MEMORANDUM

From: Samjhana Shrestha and Cody Manley

To: The Judges

Date: January 24, 2002

Subject: Free Enterprise System

With the unprecedented development in communication technology, the countries in our world have become very interdependent and interconnected where no nation can afford to remain isolated. Our global community has transcended into a small world where knowledge of each other’s economic system is not only desirable but highly important as well. With the realization of such a fact, our team accepted the challenge of learning about our economic system and others throughout the world and informing people about it. We launched our investigation by first interviewing Dr. Greg Gelles, the Chairman of the Economics Department at the University of Missouri-Rolla. He described various economic systems in the world. They were free market, command market, traditional market, and mixed market. The market system in the United States is the free market system, which fosters a climate where an entrepreneur has the utmost freedom to realize his or her fullest potential.

After discovering the crucial importance of the free enterprise system to America’s economy, we felt that informing others about this freedom was a very important responsibility. As a result, we decided to invite an expert on the topic to educate the chapter members during the Free Enterprise Day. On our request, Mr. Dave Lankford, Vice President of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, Education Department presented a workshop demonstrating decision-making processes on entrepreneurship. A new entrepreneur may face situation where making an ethical decision can be very difficult. Mr. Lankford’s workshop educated aspiring entrepreneurs on these particular issues. His workshop presented the importance of making ethical decisions, especially when in a position of leadership such as an entrepreneur.

Before sharing our knowledge to an outside audience, we wanted to ensure that we were conveying accurate information. So, it was imperative that we gather a complete and an extensive amount of information. We prepared a list of people who had experienced the economic systems of other countries. By interviewing these people we gained direct knowledge of the different market systems.

After a detailed analysis, we decided to present a lecture to an 8^th grade Civics class at the Rolla Junior High School. We felt that we should inform these students of the opportunities available to them so they can utilize this information to their fullest extent. Audiovisual presentations coupled with hands-on activities are the best tools to present materials to students of this age group. Therefore, we planned to produce a PowerPoint presentation sprinkled with activities that would simulate the various market systems. The information received from the interviews was very useful during the lecture to the 8^th graders. At the end of the day, the students seemed to not only comprehend what we presented, but also seemed very excited about the free enterprise system. All of our activities were very successful and we felt we were able to disseminate the information to many people.

II. INTRODUCTION

Description of the local DECA Chapter

Sixty active Rolla Technical Institute students constitute the Rolla DECA chapter. Each member is enrolled in one of the business classes offered at the RTI, which are Marketing I, Marketing II, Business for Tomorrow, Entrepreneurship, Salesmanship, and Retail Merchandising. All of these classes are taught by Mr. Robert Eckhoff who has been the advisor of the chapter since 1982. Mr. Eckhoff lends a great leadership to foster an educational spirit in the classes and the chapter. His contribution was aptly recognized by the Missouri Association of Career and Technological Education by presenting the “Teacher of the Year Award” to him. He also supervises our bi-weekly DECA meetings.

The DECA chapter believes in giving back to the community. Therefore, we launched the 2000-2001 DECA year with a televised fundraiser raising $ 9,000.00. This was accomplished due to the long hours donated and the cooperative team work of our chapter members. The money raised was given to the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association.

During the month of October 2000, the tenth through fifteenth was National DECA week. Our officers and members decided on specific activities for each day of the week. Monday was “DECA Colors or Chapter Tee-shirt Day”. Each member was expected to dress in either our chapter designed shirts or DECA colors: blue and yellow. Tuesday was assigned “Professional Dress Day”. Business attire, including DECA blazers were worn by members. “Secretary’s Day” was Wednesday, on which all chapter officers and volunteer members gave cakes to all the secretaries at the RTI. Thursday was selected to be “Making a Difference Day”. After school, our chapter members visited the Heritage Park Nursing Home. There we baked cookies and spent time with senior citizens. The afternoon was filled with games, stories, and fun. Finally, Friday was “Faculty Appreciation Day”. That morning our chapter cooked and served breakfast for the faculty at the RTI.

A float was entered by our chapter in the 2001 annual Christmas parade sponsored by the Rolla Chamber of Commerce. The float was designed and decorated by the chapter members and finally, presented to the public during the parade. Each year our DECA chapter sponsors a “Free Enterprise Day”. This is a school day in which a guest speaker is invited to educate Rolla Technical Institute students about free enterprise system. Dave Lankford, the guest speaker for 2001, presented a workshop entitled “Ethical Decision Making in the Workplace”.

After completing the 2000-20001 school year, we looked back at all of the accomplishments we had achieved. Not only did we make our presence known and felt by the community via our community involvement, we also had many academic achievements. Twenty-six members competed in the district competition allowing nineteen to proceed on to state, and eight moving on to international competition.

Description of the School and Community

The members of the Rolla DECA chapter attend both the Rolla High School and the Rolla Technical Institute. The Rolla High School has an enrollment of 1033 students in grades ten through twelve. This high school caters to various career paths ranging from 20^th Century History to Advanced Placement Calculus to Fashion and Design. Each department in our school – Communication Skills, Social Sciences, Mathematics, Physical Education, Foreign Language, Science, Fine, and Practical Arts offers a wide range of courses and many electives. As a result, students have many choices to choose from, depending on career goals or individual interests. Due to the high school’s excellent performance and record, it is the one of the few schools selected for the prestigious National Blue Ribbon Award.

The Rolla Technical Institute provides leadership skills to the students that will give them a headstart to a real career. Its objective is to effectively develop in each student the skills and attitudes necessary to succeed in life as a contributing member of an ever-changing society. It provides area employers with a well-trained work force that possesses the skills needed to meet current and future employment needs, and it actively maintains a leadership role in the development and promotion of Vocational Education on the state and local levels. Aside from well-focused Marketing courses, it also offers several hands-on classes.

Rolla, known as the “middle of everywhere”, is surrounded by the urban cultures of St. Louis, Springfield, Jefferson City, and Columbia. As a result, the residents of Rolla receive a great mixture of city and rural life. Recently, Rolla was ranked among the top one hundred small towns in the United States in Norman Crompton’s 100 Best Small Towns in the US. However, due to the rapid growth rate, Rolla can no longer be amongst the other small towns. The 2000 population census states Rolla increased its population from 14, 090 people in 1990 to 16,367 residents in the year 2000.

The Rolla area has a diversified economic base comprised of industry, governmental agencies, educational facilities, medical services, and agricultural activities. Within the city of Rolla, there are several hundreds of businesses. It is the home to the University of Missouri Rolla, one of the finest engineering schools in the nation. Rolla has continued its brisk pace with the progress of growth and development and will continue with improvements for its residents.

III. MANAGEMENT OF ACTIVITY TO INFORM CHAPTER MEMBERS

Planning and Purpose of the Activity

With the unprecedented development in communication technology, the countries in our world have become very interdependent and interconnected where no nation can afford to remain isolated. Our global community has transcended into a small world where knowledge of each other’s economic system is not only desirable but highly important as well. With the realization of such a fact, our team accepted the challenge of learning about other economic systems and informing others about it. The first step was to obtain a complete knowledge of the free enterprise system. We relied on a primary source, an interview, and secondary sources, the Internet and economics books. The interview was with Dr. Greg Gelles, the Chairman of the Economics Department at the University of Missouri-Rolla. Prior to his interview, our team created a list of questions concerning the free enterprise and four market systems. Dr. Gelles described about the freedom that the free enterprise allows and the benefits of the system as well as the negative aspects. He also discussed which market system the major countries lean towards. The Internet and textbooks also gave us an ample of information about the free enterprise system as well as the market systems Dr. Gelles explained, namely, command market, pure market, traditional market, and mixed market.

After discovering the crucial importance of the free enterprise system to America’s economy, we felt that informing about this freedom was a very important responsibility. As a result, we decided to invite an expert on the topic to educate the chapter members during the Free Enterprise Day. The team and our chapter advisor, Mr. Eckhoff sat down to brainstorm. We each submitted names and chose the most influential person. The final choice was Mr. Dave Lankford, Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce Education Department.

Organization of the Activity

We contacted Mr. Lankford via e-mail, and asked if he would be interested in presenting a workshop on Free Enterprise. He soon responded and said he would present a workshop demonstrating decision-making processes on entrepreneurship. A new entrepreneur may face situations where making a judicious judgment and an ethical decision can be very difficult. Mr. Lankford’s workshop would educate and prepare aspiring entrepreneurs on these particular issues. We were very excited about this workshop. Once the date for the presentation was set, Mr. Lankford faxed the itinerary for the day of the workshop. It is as follows:

Ethics Workshop - AGENDA
8:30 – 9:00 A.M.	Orientation for Table Leaders	11:10 – 11:45	Lunch
9:00 – 9:10	Welcome Introduction of Program	11:45 – 12:05 P.M.	Decision Process Steps – “The Joe Wilson Dilemma”
9:10 – 9:25	Table Talk (Get Acquainted at the tables)	12:05 – 12:30	Ethical Dilemma ---“The True steel Affair” Use the five Steps Process
9:25 – 9:50	“What’s important: To me, To You and Us?”	12:30 – 12:50	Tables Report to Assembly
9:50 – 10:00	Break	12:50 – 1:00	Break
10:00 – 10:25	Case Study	1:00 – 1:30	Individual Table Dilemma
10:50 – 11:05	Tables Report to Assembly	1:30 – 1:50	Tables Report to Assembly
11:05 – 11:10	Community Values	1:50 – 2:00	Wrap-up Evaluation - Adjourn

The workshop continued through the majority of the school day, so, we had to provide lunch for the students. Therefore, we called various restaurants that catered and decided on Lee’s Chicken. Next, we provided a sign-up sheet in Mr. Eckhoff’s class for students interested in attending the workshop. Nametags were created for each person and we divided them in groups of five. For each group of students, a table leader was designated. The table leaders were successful entrepreneurs in the city of Rolla chosen to guide the students during the presentation. The last task was to arrange and decorate the room for the presentation. Once this was complete we anticipated the arrival of the next day, the presentation day.

Implementation of the Activity

Following first hour, the students attending Mr. Lankford’s presentation rode a bus from the Rolla High School to the Rolla Technical Institute. There, Mr. Lankford waited for our arrival. The team introduced Mr. Lankford and he began the workshop. We discussed the benefits and difficulties of being an entrepreneur. This led to the central theme of the presentation: the importance of making ethical decisions, especially when in a position of leadership such as an entrepreneur. During the workshop case studies were done that involved critical decisions making situations. As a group, we each were required to come to a consensus. All the students were very active and participated in the workshop with enthusiasm. At the end of the presentation, each student and table leader completed an evaluation on Mr. Lankford’s presentation. Everyone enjoyed the presentation and thanked Mr. Lankford.

IV. MANAGEMENT OF ACTIVITY TARGETED AT OUTSIDE AUDIENCE

Planning and Purpose of the Activity

Once again, the weight of the responsibility of informing others was on our shoulders. Therefore, we wanted to assure that we were conveying accurate information to our audience. Before presenting to the outside audience, it was imperative that we gather an extensive amount of information. We prepared a list of people who had experienced the economic systems of other countries. By interviewing these people we would gain direct knowledge of the different market systems. The list of interviewees contained Shirley Zhang, a student from China; Joshua Shabel, a foreign exchange student from Ireland; Osa Okunbor, a Nigerian-born student; and Jagat Lamsal, a graduate student from Nepal. We hoped that after interviewing these people, we would gain first hand knowledge of other market systems. The next task was to write a letter to President Bush asking if we would be able to interview him and discuss America’s market system.

Our final task was to determine the central theme of the presentation for the outside audience. We also had to identify what outside audience would be the most beneficial to the presentation. After a detailed discussion, the team decided to present the lecture to an 8^th grade Civics class at the Rolla Junior High School. The team felt that it should inform these students of the opportunities available to them so they could utilize this information to the fullest extent. Audiovisual presentations coupled with hands-on activities are the best tools to present materials to students of this age group. Therefore, we planned to produce a PowerPoint presentation sprinkled with activities that would simulate the various market systems.

Organization of the Activity

At first, we had to contact the list of the people to interview. Three of the four people, Zhang, Shabel, and Okunbor were students at the Rolla High School. We met with each one of them at the school and asked them to contribute some of their knowledge about the market system of the countries they lived in to our DECA project. Each agreed to participate in an interview. We set out different dates on which we would discuss the market system they were familiar with. The other person, Jagat Lamsal was the student in the University of Missouri-Rolla. To contact him, we obtained his e-mail address and asked him if he would be willing to share his knowledge of Nepal’s economic system with us. He also agreed. So, we set up a date to meet with him. Next, we searched for the address of the White house using the Internet.

For the presentation at the Rolla Junior High School we contacted the school and scheduled our presentation with Mr. Bartle’s Civics classes. The presentation would be held for two days through all seven periods. The first day was planned to be the lecture day and the second day would be occupied by the hands-on activities. Once all the dates and materials were prepared, we were ready to implement the activities.

Implementation of the Activity

The first date set for an interview was with Shirley Zhang. Zhang gave us valuable information about the Chinese economic system. She described the role of the government, the process of licensing a business, and the people’s perception of the Chinese system. Her description showed that the Chinese market system mainly contained the characteristics of a command market. Next, we interviewed Joshua Shabel. He described the Irish economic system that seemed to fall into the pattern of the mixed market system. The Irish government plays a role in the factors of production, but the individuals have liberty to exercise their own decisions in matters of business. The third interviewee was Osa Okunbor. He contributed information about the Nigerian economic system, which leaned towards the traditional market. The final interviewee was Jagat Lamsal who described the economic system of Nepal. According to him, Nepal is going through rapid changes in all walks of its life including its economy. The Nepali economic system seemed to be a mixed market system. Following these interviews, we felt that we had acquired detailed information on various market systems in the world. The information received was very useful during the lecture to the 8^th graders.

In the morning of our presentation to the junior high students, we borrowed a destination computer to present the PowerPoint slides. We began the presentation by introducing the DECA chapter and ourselves. Then we presented the bulk of information about free enterprise and various market systems in the world. At the end of the presentation we asked for their questions and input. The students seemed not only to comprehend what we presented, but also seemed very excited about the free enterprise system.

The team returned the next morning with a day planned for a market simulation. We distributed candy to the students in each class to trade with each other subject to rules that we prescribed. The rules were formulated so as to simulate the various types of market systems. A rule that allowed any type of trading represented the free market. Once they completed trading freely we asked how many students were pleased with the results of the trade. The majority of the students in every single class were satisfied. To represent command market, we had the students take a fifteen-question quiz. The idea was to simulate the commanding role of the government in such a system. The students who scored thirteen to fifteen questions correct were allowed to trade without any restriction. Next, the students scoring ten to twelve questions correct were only allowed to trade within a restricted group. The students scoring six to nine were allowed to trade certain designated candies with certain students, and the students scoring zero to five questions had their candies taken away. After the trading for the command market was complete, we evaluated the level of satisfaction among the students. Compared to the free market system, the level declined dramatically. To represent the mixed market, the students were supplied with four different kinds of candies: Pixie Stix, Peppermint, Dumdum, and Starburst Hard Candy. The candies were attributed with different levels of value. One Pixie Stix was equivalent to two Peppermints; one Peppermint was equivalent to two Dumdums; and finally, one Dumdum was equivalent to two Starbursts. After the trade, once again, we examined the level of satisfaction. We observed that it was better than in the command market but lower than in the free market system. The second activity consisted of dividing the students into four groups. Each group represented one of the market systems. Their tasks as a “system” needed to come up with two advantages and two disadvantages of their systems. Once the groups were done writing down, they had a chosen spokesman to read the list to the class. The final activity for the day was an individual activity to assure that the students comprehended the material given. We wrote a list of terms from the lecture on the board and had them categorize it under the market system it was related to.

Finally, we wrote and mailed the letter to the President, George W. Bush requesting an interview.

V. EVALUATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Evaluation of campaign parts III and IV

Feedback is the most important aspect when evaluating the effectiveness of a project. The response we received from all of our activities was extraordinary. The results from the student evaluations of Mr. Lankford’s workshop are as follows:

In this plot, the rating is scaled linearly with five being the highest and one the lowest with regard to the overall quality of the presentation. The next graph below shows the percentage of students that did or did not feel they learned skills from the workshop that are valuable to them once they become an entrepreneur.

This last graph below represents the percentage of students who believed that they would utilize the information from the “Free Enterprise Day” workshop in the realistic world.

Overall, the results of the evaluation displayed that the students enjoyed the workshop and witnessed how a free enterprise system brings the maximum freedom possible in a market system. By observing the response of the students through the evaluation, we notice that they will use their new knowledge to benefit them and the community.

The feedback of our second activity also showed success. The free enterprise marketing system reflected the greatest amount of satisfaction. We received a letter from Mr. Bartle and his class thanking us for our presentation. They opined that our presentation and simulation was very helpful for teaching the students about entrepreneurship and various market systems. Throughout the community many residents have commented numerous times on the accomplishments of our project.

Recommendations for Future Activities

The basis of our report relied on the interview we did with Dr. Gelles, Shirley Zhang, Osa Okunbor, Jagat Lamsal, and Joshua Shabel. The diversity of the economic systems these interviewees experienced gave us a much more depth not only to our learning but our report as well. Once we realized the interdependencies connecting the nations of the world together, this became the central theme of our project. It is very important to understand the economic system of different nations in the present world. We feel the most efficient method to inform others about various economic systems are through the Internet. We currently are creating a website to inform individuals throughout the world the importance of the free enterprise and other market systems. We are also preparing proclamations for the Mayor of the city of Rolla and the Governor of the state of Missouri to celebrate a Free Enterprise Week. Our final activity we wish to carry out is to interview the President, George W. Bush to learn more about the system that prospers.

VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Miller, R. L., “Economics Today & Tomorrow”, McGraw Hill, Ohio; 1995

Website: Rolla Senior High School

URL: http://rolla.k12.mo.us/Rhs/index.html

Website: Rolla City

URL: http://www.rollanet.org/areainfo/nwtop100.html