Five local high school students, under the guidance of the Junior Achievement of Greater St. Louis and Southeast Missouri State Universitys Catapult Creative House, have launched BeeChainz, an innovative keychain company.
The students will celebrate the launch of BeeChainz during a reception scheduled for 5:30-7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1 at Catapult Creative House, located at 612 Broadway, as part of Cape Girardeaus First Friday with the Arts activities.
From left to right are Evan Turner, Jonah Turner, Isaac LeGrand, Devin Van Den Bossche and Kaleb Day.
The students, Jonah Turner, Evan Turner and Devin Van Den Bossche, all of Jackson, Missouri, and Isaae LeGrand and Kaleb Day, both of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, created the company as part of a Junior Achievements Company Program hosted at Catapult Creative House.
The Junior Achievement is dedicated to educating students in grades K-12 about entrepreneurship, work readiness and financial literacy through experiential, hands-onprograms.
As part of the program, the students met after school once a week for two months with Leah Powers, operations manager of Catapult Creative House, to explore entrepreneurship issues, learn how to develop and operate a business, and use the vast resources available at Catapult Creative House.
The students hard work exemplifies the spirit of entrepreneurship fostered at Southeast and Catapult Creative House, Powers said.
Im very proud of all the hard work this team has put in, Powers said. Its the first time weve run this program in the Cape Girardeau area, and even though our team is small, theyre passionate. I have no doubt they will all go far in their entrepreneurial careers.
Jonah Turner said, Because of this unique opportunity, we learned how to properly fund, construct and manage a real world business. After seven weeks of hard and thorough work, we created BeeChainz.
BeeChainz are a new take on how key chains are made, expressed and interpreted. BeeChainz are hexagonal pieces made of 3D printed recyclable, polylactic acid filament; are easily chained to one another using connectors located on each of their six sides; and can be printed in a wide variety of colors, imprints or even functions.
BeeChainz will be available at a variety of pop-up locations in Cape Girardeau and Jackson and online at beechainz.squarespace.com through Nov. 30.
Additionally, the students are partnering with the Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation to ensure 10% of all profits will be donated to support the conservation of Missouri pollinators.
For more information about BeeChainz or to place an order, email beechainzco@gmail.com.
For more information about the Junior Achievement Company Program, contact Leah Powers at lepowers@semo.edu or (573) 290-5372.