MicroSociety builds confidence, challenges students at Penn Hills Charter School of Entrepreneurship

Mini-city Soarmania is celebrating its fifth anniversary.

Not a place found on the map, Soarmania was meticulously created and carried on by students of Penn Hills Charter School of Entrepreneurship.

For one period each day, PHCSE transforms into the MicroSociety Soarmania, where students apply academics to real-life experiences.

Running from kindergarten to eighth grade, this is the 15th year the school has utilized MicroSociety, an educational model that transforms schools into miniature, student-run societies where children create and manage their own governments, businesses and nonprofits to make classroom lessons relevant.

“We operate on real-world prinicples and teach the kids about relevant lessons and activities that actually happen on a day to day life as an adult,” said Dana Wood, PHCSE entrepreneurial education coach.

Students are able to participate as members of government, business owners, peacekeepers and lawyers.

To become business owners, students must submit and present business proposals to the MicroSociety Committee, Wood said.

“We usually add three to four new businesses per year, depending on how many businesses went bankrupt the prior year,” Wood said.

Seventh grader Alex Owino, 12, owned a music-making business called Conduction Inc. through the MicroSociety.

Alex is partnered with another student to make music for their customers.

“I really like music,” he said. “I really like listening to it and I like to try and make music as well.”

Alex’s passion for music aided him in his business’ day-to-day operations. He likes classical music and enjoys violin and piano pieces.

“I had to lean on the managers and my website developers, my cashiers and all of my other employees,” he said about the growth of his business.

Business owners also are in charge of hiring their own bookkeeper, accountant and other employees they may need.

If businesses begin to fail, students must visit teachers who act as a bank and loan officers to make their case about why they should be able to borrow money for their business. If the business goes bankrupt, the student brainstorms with teachers to see if they can save the idea, or if they will need to scrap it and think of a new business.

If students want to participate as a member of government, they’re charged with running a campaign.

Alex attempted to run for vice president and speaker of the house in the school.

“Although I didn’t succeed, I still had fun because I liked to make the posters and do my speech,” he said.

The school’s annual swearing-in ceremony marks the culmination of a monthlong campaign season led by student-made speeches, posters and peer elections. This year’s ceremony was led by District Judge Anthony DeLuca.

Seventh grader Ally Reese, 12, was elected mayor of her homeroom this year.

“As mayor of the class, if somebody comes in that’s not from our school, I will be the one to greet them and show them how we do our stuff, and how our everyday school day goes,” Ally said.

She said she has her eyes on being elected president of the MicroSociety. She already has the leadership experience as president of the school’s National Junior Honor Society.

Running her campaign has helped her learn that she enjoys video editing and digital art. Ally said she enjoyed making her posters and giving speeches.

“I feel like after I came to this school, it made me look into more political stuff and who I want to be as an adult,” she said.

The school also works with nonprofits and different community partners to help students learn about different life aspects directly from professionals.

“This year, we’re partnering with a local electric company because we’re adding blue-collar industries to our MicroSociety with electricians and plumbers,” Wood said.

Not only does Soarmania give students real-world lessons, it also can give them confidence.

PHCSE Prinicpal Abriana Leeper said she has seen a change in her own children — daughter Marle Mitchell, 11, and sons Michael and Moses Mitchell, 10 and 7, respectively — since they began participating in the MicroSociety.

“Having kids excited to come to school to be creative, to even play at what we do as adults all the time is really, really important,” Leeper said.

In her previous school, Marle tended to be shier and less eager to participate in the classroom, Leeper said. This year, Leeper watched Marle jump into the MicroSociety head first and run for mayor. She later was elected as senator.

Leeper said Moses has been staying engaged in the different classroom activities that PHCSE offers. Both of her boys intend to run for offices next school year.

“I don’t think I’ve seen really two out of the three (children) enjoy school before and look forward to coming to school,” Leeper said. “They’re confident here.”

Leeper began in her role as principal in July. It was her first interaction with a MicroSociety curriculum.

“I think one of the benefits of having a MicroSociety or entrepreneurship-based school, they are positioned in different spaces throughout their day to be able to speak for themselves, to be able to take their thoughts from writing and present that to people,” Leeper said.

She said the program allows students to be able to put their academic and critical thinking skills to the test in real time.

“I’m seeing the true beauty of what education can be lived out on a consistent basis here,” Leeper said.