Major achievement
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A Tillsonburg-based, student-run business has recently won several awards with the London District Junior Achievement program.
Bath Treats, a local company created by 12 students from Glendale High School in Grades 9–12, has made and sold scented Epsom salts in Tillsonburg since it began operations last fall.
“These students have had unbelievable success in terms of establishing distribution channels and sales - they were in 11 different retail stores with their product within town,” said Andrew Burns, company mentor with Junior Achievement in Tillsonburg. “Most of the other junior achievement companies have 20-plus students. These students had only 12 (team members). They determined right away who was good at what, they utilized their skills to the best of their abilities and really excelled on multiple levels.”
The annual Junior Achievement awards ceremony held on May 4 in London at the Richard Ivey School of Business, hosted 14 student companies based out of London, Stratford, St. Thomas and Tillsonburg. Bath Treats was awarded with the highest honours within the junior achievement company program, taking home the award for Outstanding Company of the Year.
The students’ hard work, determination and success also earned them several other awards and put Bath Treats at the top with the highest sales in all of London district, in addition to boasting one of the most creative marketing strategies, noted Burns. The president of Bath Treats, Meagan Spencer, won president of the year.
The company sold its product over the past several months in local retail stores and through online sales.
“They made this product from scratch – they took Epsom salt, they crushed it, they did a lot of R and D (research and development) in terms of scents, they put raw product into some of them - raw orange peels, raw cinnamon and they had some raw lavender they used,” explained Burns. “There were six or seven different scents that they used depending on the season.”
As a previous mentor with the Junior Achievement program in Kitchener/Waterloo, Burns said he was impressed with the group of students’ business sense and overall dedication to their product and company operations.
“They put some HR (human resource) strategies into place here that I think a lot of small companies would have loved to have. They really did a very good job as coming together as a group.”
In addition, over the past several months the students networked and met with local business owners, thanks to the Tillsonburg Chamber of Commerce and the support received from the business community.
“These kids did a fantastic job but there’s also a big statement in that the Town of Tillsonburg and the Chamber of Commerce specifically, were behind these students the entire time. The community supported them,” Burns added.
This is only the second year that the junior achievement program has run in Tillsonburg noted Burns. It began two years ago at Glendale High School and met with success with students, although it did not run last year.
“This year was the first year that any of these students have really been involved. Most of the other companies that they competed against have students in this program from Grade 9 through Grade 12,” said Burns. “So these students in Tillsonburg were all first-time participants in the junior achievement program. It’s phenomenal.”
One of the first major decisions the company Bath Treats made was to donate a portion of profits to charity or a good cause. They posted a contest on their Facebook page and decided to allow their customers and the public to chose a charity or organization from a group of three - the Multi Service Centre (Adult Literacy program), the Salvation Army and the Tillsonburg District Memorial Hospital (TDMH). The move was designed to both raise awareness about the local organizations, as well as drive more traffic to their company page.
On June 6, 2013, Bath Treats will be presenting a cheque for $468.74 to a TDMH representative during an assembly at Glendale High School.
The Bath Treats management team has laid the groundwork and set an excellent example, says Burns, who hopes based on this year’s success, to see the junior achievement program continue to prosper and provide high school students with an important learning opportunity.
“Moving forward, we want to expand this program – we’d like to have more of the high schools get involved,” said Burns. “Most of these 12 students are coming back, so there’s going to be a very strong team again next year, and they will be the leaders of next year’s companies.”
The junior achievement program is an excellent resource to provide students with a glimpse into the business world, said Burns and offers a positive business experience outside of school.
“They have a much better idea now of what all is involved in a business - it’s not just a quick turnkey operation, there’s a lot going on. These students now have a major head start if they ever want to be entrepreneurs in the future and own their own business.”
Bath Treats Management Team:
President – Megan Spencer, VP Human Resources – Mimi Tran, VP Finance – Jack McCormick, VP Production – Chris Reinhart, VP Sales – Taylor Renken, VP Marketing – Jennifer Gilvesy, VP IT – Amanda Armstrong.
Bath Treats Staff:
Laurie Brooks, Amit Hampal, Tanner Clarke,
Thomas Stoop and Audrey Gardner.
Junior Achievement Awards: Bath Treats
Outstanding Company of the Year
President of the Year – Megan Spencer
VP Human Resources of the Year and Award of Excellence – Mimi Tran
Production Person of the Year – Laurie Brooks
Spirit Award – Thomas Stoop
Local Award for Leadership – Megan Spencer
Outstanding JA Ambassadors – Jennifer Gilvesy and Jack McCormick
In addition, Megan Spencer, Mimi Tran and Amanda Armstrong received awards for having sold more than $500 individually throughout the year, and Jack McCormick was also honoured by receiving a trip to the NEXT Generation Leaders Conference, a premier international conference for future business leaders.
Bath Treats Mentors:
Andrew Burns, Jane Esseltine, Karen Northgraves,
Lauren Northgraves and Lori Van Opstal.
Tillsonburg Junior Achievement Sponsors included Agrospray Limited, Bossy, Nagy Geoffrey Chartered Accountants, Lori Van Opstal, Tillsonburg
Chamber of Commerce, Waste Solutions Canada.