Career and technical education students across the state regularly take classroom concepts beyond school walls. Construction technology students have built houses in Houghton, and automotive technology students have helped people get back on the road. But for business students in the Copper Country Intermediate School District CTE program, applying classroom learning requires more creativity.
The solution came Tuesday with the inaugural Pike Tank event at the Hancock Community Hub, where students partnered with community organizations to pitch business ideas to a panel of experts.
Like the television show Shark Tank, students developed products and presented them to industry professionals. The daylong event allowed CCISD CTE business students to apply classroom concepts to real-world scenarios while developing networking skills and building confidence in sharing their ideas.
“I think there was excitement, but there was nerves, but I’ve seen a great, great response today, and I think it’s been a wonderful experience,” said Steve Kass, business teacher for CCISD CTE programs. “And again, just seeing that confidence building that they can do this has been pretty powerful.”
Community partners emphasized the comprehensive nature of business development during the presentations.
“We also hope that they will kind of take into consideration all the different aspects of what it takes to run a business, from like marketing to permits and compliance and branding and public relations,” said Kayleigh White, marketing manager at Breakwater Federal Credit Union.
Students focused on solving common challenges in their daily lives. One group introduced a color-changing lamp designed to help students get into the proper mindset for studying, incorporating light theory concepts. Another student group developed a solution to keep snow and ice off snowboard bindings.
“It messes with how your feet sit in your bindings and as person who’s had a lot of knee injuries I need my feet to sit correctly so that’s why we kind of made it and for the most part it sounds like a pretty good idea,” said Davis Moyle, class of 2027.
Students participated in planning the entire event. Kass said he and community partners wanted students to develop skills for organizing large events and leading projects while learning about factors entrepreneurs consider when developing successful businesses.
“Obviously this is patterned kind of after Shark Tank, right, the TV show. But we wanted to make it different and since we don’t have shark in our freshwater here, we decided that the pike kind of embodied those characteristics,” Kass said.
The preparation process provided extensive learning opportunities beyond the main event. Students worked with industry experts to establish branding and logos, created logo options that were voted on by participants, and produced t-shirts featuring the winning design that all students wore during the event.
“We did some press releases, they had to make the agenda,” Kass said. “They’ve just had so many learning opportunities preparing for it.”
The Pike Tank event demonstrates how career and technical education programs adapt traditional business concepts to engage students in practical, hands-on learning experiences that prepare them for entrepreneurship and project management roles.
Information about the business and entrepreneur program at the Copper Country Career and Technical Education Center is available online.
