Karen Stickney
Provided by Karen Stickney
Lumberton—Business education can be a challenging concept for young students, but Karen Stickney makes her subject fun.
At the PSRC Early College High School, students have the opportunity to take classes that prepare them for the future. Stickney’s entrepreneurship classes are one such class. They teach students the basics of starting and running a business, and culminate in a shark-tank-style business presentation among peers at UNC Pembroke.
District Career Coach Audrey Strong said the way Stickney manages her classroom is inspiring and makes her messages stick.
“She has a partnership with UNC-P where instructors who teach that same class come out and observe her students doing their final presentations,” Strong said, “and then she takes them to the university where the students do their presentations on the stage, in front of an audience.”
Stickney has spent much of her professional life as a teacher, the past ten of which she has spent at the Early College High School, teaching students ages 14-19 the ropes. Before partnering with UNC-P for the final presentations, Stickney would bring in random RCC faculty or anyone she could get to come in and act as the judges.
The business presentations that serve as Stickney’s students’ final exams start at the beginning of the semester, when the students brainstorm a business idea to apply what they learn.
“The process is a lot of layers,” Stickney said. “You find out about X, you add Y, and then you have to change and adjust everything. The students start with one idea and focus on that.”
Stickney said that coming up with a business proposal starts with identifying a problem and selling the solution. One example of this could be someone who cannot get their cast wet after an injury but still needs to shower. Stickney said the solution could be something to slip over the arm or leg to keep the injured areas dry during a shower.
According to Strong, Stickney’s approach to her classes has consistently earned her respect among her students, regardless of any difficulty they may have with the coursework.
“She creates relationships with the students,” Strong said. “I think they know that she cares about them.”
Contact Victoria Sanderson at [email protected].
