Fayette Teens Mind Their Own Business

With Scottish Youth, They Achieve Success

By Julie K. Miller

The Atlanta Journal Constitution

(1998, Atlanta, Georgia ) Twenty-two seniors in the international business class at Sandy Creek High School frequently encounter problems such as how to meet the requirements of Her Royal Highness’ Sugar Act so they can send their Scottish partners the peach candy they ordered.

The Fayette County teens deal with harmonized codes required for export, taxes, the U.S. trade imbalance, shipping rates and cultural differences in Achievers International, a program started three years ago to teach teens to use technology in the workplace and expose them to international business. They use e-mail, video conferencing and faxes to conduct their import-export business with their partner, the Wellington School in Ayr, Scotland.

"We’re giving them the real world and theory on top of that," said teacher Marlene Holland.

So far, the economic education program has grown from six Georgia schools teamed with six Scottish schools to 33 middle and high schools this year. Another 20 schools will be added next year, said Bette J. Hickman, executive director of Achievers International-Georgia. Throughout the United State and Canada, 100 Achievers International partnerships are in place and the Scots are teaming up with other countries such as Sri Lanka and Nigeria.

"It’s all kind of mushrooming," said Hickman.

Hickman helped start Achievers International after she met some Scottish businessmen at a 1994 education conference in Washington.

"They had a germ of an idea, but they didn’t know what to do with it," she said. "We had a meeting of the hearts and a kinship formed."

That kinship is thriving. Groups from here make the trek across the Atlantic and vice versa. This week, Brian McInroy, resource development officer for the South Ayrshire school system in Ayr, Scotland, visited Fayette and Coweta counties to talk about ways to expand the program into the arts and government.

Sandy Creek students, who are planning a trip to Scotland in March, say the program has taught them more than any book could about the real world of business. They formed their own company, Star International, put together a promotional video for their used clothing drive and negotiated a $2,000 bank loan to tide them over until they finished their fund-raising. They pay for their own phone and fax in the classroom, but and sell stock in their company – last year’s class earned 370 percent profit and gave $1,000 to charity – and go out into the business community soliciting price breaks on items such as lip gloss and mascara they plan to sell to their partners.

They’ve learned from their mistakes.

When a classmate quoted an incorrect product price to their Scottish customers, 18-year-old Shelina Ybanez was successful in getting the supplier to lower the price.

And they’ve experienced the frustrations of daily commerce. "I learned that phone tag is not a fun game," said J. R. Davis. "I’ve learned it takes a lot of hard work, and you get out of it what you put into it."