New Business curricula offered at DCC by market strategist Andrew Sutton
Many DuBois Central Catholic School (DCC) students are interested in starting a business at some point in their careers. This has led to the addition and restructuring of new business curricula offered at both middle and high school levels. Under the direction of Mr. Andrew Sutton, Sutton & Associates, LLC Founder and Chief Market Strategist, and editor of The Centsible Investor and My Two Cents, students will be educated on current financial and business trends, business law, entrepreneurship, investment strategies, and global business. Most importantly, they will learn financial literacy which is often overlooked in secondary education.
Business curricula will include five new course offerings for DCC students: Personal Finance, Investments and Finance, Accounting, Business Fundamentals and Law, and Entrepreneurship and Special Topics in Global Business. The latter three courses are dual-enrollment eligible through Pennsylvania Highlands Community College. Each class will focus on various breadth and depth topics. Students will be introduced to business journaling, QuickBooks use, and analyzing financial statements from sole-proprietorships, LLC/LLP, and larger public C-Corps to assess the financial health of real companies. Sutton notes the business management aspects of the curricula by explaining, “the students will experience how pass-through entities are taxed, whereas the C-Corp will give them experience dealing with corporate taxation, capital stock, dividend distribution, and capital gains taxation.”
Guided by the Distribution Education Clubs of America (DECA), a 501(c)3 non-profit career and technical organization from which Sutton is using some curriculum to introduce 8th graders to marketing and business practices, students have already studied and performed SWOT analyses on McDonalds’ Corporation and other companies familiar to them. They are learning how businesses operate, either poorly or successfully. According to DECA, the curriculum offered is “preparing emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for college and careers.” Sutton plans to use DECA as an introductory course that will lead to students enrolling in the more advanced business course offerings in high school.
Students enrolled in Business Fundamentals and Law will delve into business model selection such as incorporation and the type of corporation best suited for particular ventures. Business plans will be developed from concept stage through execution, while accounting students will evaluate the business plan proposals for overall viability. “With roughly 1/3 of last years’ seniors indicating an interest in pursuing degrees in various sectors of the business world,” Suttons says, “I want to give them a ‘taste’ of what they might encounter and ignite their passion for their anticipated studies and remove some of the anxiety associated with owning one’s own business.”
Of particular interest to students is the Investments and Finance class. Using How the Market Works, a real-world, simulated investment platform for placing different types of stock orders, in conjunction with company research, each student will create and manage seven to ten different investment portfolios, running simultaneously, using a variety of investment strategies. Sutton indicates, “My goal is that students taking these classes will have a solid grasp of the macroeconomic factors that impact business, general management operations of a small to mid-size business, and the legal environment as it relates to business. On the entrepreneurship side, they will analyze potential issues their concepts may face.”
As a new addition to the middle and high school educational team at DCC, Sutton embarks upon business curricula that develops students with “the necessary tools to successfully navigate the ever changing business and financial landscape and to underscore the importance of a solid foundation in financial literacy in these areas as it applies to the many decisions students will make during their everyday lives.”
Sutton comes to DuBois Central Catholic School with a Master of Business Administration from Moravian University, Bethlehem, PA and International Honors in Economics, while holding a FINRA Series 65 Securities License. After ten years’ experience as Chief Market Strategist at his company, he served as the Business Curriculum Department Chair at Curwensville Area School District for seven years, and obtained an Administrative I Certification through St. Francis University, Loretto, PA. Prior to this, he obtained four years’ experience as the Business and Computer Technology Department Chair at Hamburg Area School District, where he developed twelve new courses to restructure the department to a standards-aligned format.
Parents wanting to learn more about DuBois Central Catholic School educational opportunities can visit the school’s website at www.duboiscatholic.com. Private school tours and enrollment information sessions are offered daily.
Business Fundamental/Business Law Class Photograph:
(Front Row, L to R) – Katherine Adair, Kairys Martini, Carter Cummings, Trent Miller
(Back Row, L to R) – Jacob Parks, Mr. Andrew Sutton (Business Instructor), Marek Hoyt