News : Vinton Popcorn: VSHS entrepreneurship class seeks to sell in all 50 states

“New and improved” is not just a marketing mantra for The Vinton Popcorn Project – it's a summary of the hard work and hard lessons learned by the Vinton-Shellsburg High School Entrepreneurship Class and instructor Aric Chvala over the last two years. “We've learned from our mistakes – and we've made some big ones,” Chvala said during class on Thursday, when he was explaining the program to Benton Community Curriculum Director Jo Pruscha. Benton is one of several school districts considering adding a class similar to Chvala's. This is the third year that VSHS students have been marketing, packaging and distributing Vinton Popcorn – named after the iconic Vinton brand that was around for many decades of the 20th Century. Next month, Chvala and some members of the class will visit Des Moines to discuss “problem-based” classes with state legislators. And, says the teacher, the class has overcome several problems. They changed the species of popcorn from mushroom to butterfly after receiving some complaints from consumers. They changed providers due to quality issues. They overcame lost Facebook passwords after earlier class members graduated, a deactivated email account and a notice from the USDA that they would have to shut down with a week because they failed to submit the proper paperwork (a result of the email account issue mentioned above). They learned about the official way to apply bar coding to their products and discovered how to navigate the process of adding their popcorn to the inventory of a regional store (Theisen's). They changed their packaging in a variety of ways and built a new web site and Facebook page. They learned the school district's purchase order protocol and work with the district office on accounting, receiving payment and paying bills. And whatever the challenge the class confronted, they worked together, researched options, and found a way to do what they needed to do to keep the project going. They call it a “project” and use a ".org" web site because they want the public to know that this version of Vinton Popcorn is a non-profit entity that focuses on education as much is does popcorn. Now, with the experience and confidence they have gained, the class and teacher are eyeing a new goal: Selling their popcorn in all 50 states in one month. Students packaged a box to send to Missouri on Thursday. Earlier they made sales to customers in Washington and Georgia via their web site. They now have reached eight of the 50 states with the popcorn. V-S is one of the few schools in Iowa with such an entrepreneurship class that is actively involved in a business. With the help of a board of local business people and investors who provided $3,000 in start-up funds, the project has sustained itself. The class continues to receive orders, both big and small, and to face new requests and challenges. They recently received one request for a large order, and are trying to determine if they have the capacity to meet that customer's needs. Another potential customer has requested popcorn that already has the oil pre-packaged with the popcorn; the class has not offered this product but is investigating the possibility. One product the class does offer because of consumer requests is a microwave package. CTE In the official educator vocabulary, the popcorn class is part of a state-wide program commonly called CTE: Career and Technical Education. CTE classes are designed specifically to prepare students for occupations in the fields of agriculture, family and consumer sciences, health occupations, business, industrial technology and marketing. The 4 P's Chvala said he has taught the students marketing basics with the 4 P's: Product, price, promotion and place. Pros/cons Students listed a few "pros" and "cons" regarding the entrepreneurship class and the popcorn project. Pros: Looks good on resume; little-to-no bookwork; no homework; very hands-on; learning real-life business skills; teamwork lessons; the opportunity to communicate with local business people; and finally: Fun Cons: Must be self-motivated; must be able to problem-solve; having to work with people of various personalities. With the change in students as the third trimester began, the class is now at eight members; Chvala said that is the ideal number. See the new Facebook page, with a map showing the states where students have sent popcorn in the past few days, HERE. See the Vinton Popcorn Project website HERE.