For seniors in the business and economic classes, January means participating in the Apprentice Project.

The project, designed by longtime business teacher Mr. Dave Santos ’85, replicates real-life business plan implementation from product design to merchandising.

Ultimately, it becomes a competition between the senior business classes and the senior honors economic class, all taught by Santos. The project has gained a reputation as being one of most anticipated lessons of senior year.

Each class starts its own “company” that needs to develop a new product to be sold to the CBA community. Each company then creates a business plan that is presented to the CBA administration for approval. Within each company, departments such as research and development, marketing, and operations are formed.

“Taking economics this year, I was super excited to get to work on our very own project and leave our mark on the wall of fame in room 110,” said Chris Ern ’22, who led the marketing efforts for the Brothers crewneck sweatshirt. “I learned that creating a business and product while putting our company on the spotlight at the same time is not an easy task. It takes time, well thought out ideas, and preparation in order to succeed.”

Once approved, the classes market their new products to the community prior to sales beginning. The sales period is a five-day stretch in school during January.

The competition comes into play when the final sales are tallied. The winning company is awarded the highest grade on the project. Of course, there is a charitable component to the project, as each company donates its earnings to a charity of its choice.

This year, the products and charities included:

• “Brothers” crewneck sweatshirt to benefit DENA’s Brothers of the Christian Schools Foundation
• “Pink CBA” neckties to benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation
• “CBA Curing” shirts to benefit St. Jude Children’s Hospital
• “Br. Tim” crewneck sweatshirt to benefit Homes For Our Troops