Young students learned some valuable lessons about art, business and more on Friday in San Luis Obispo.
About 20 fifth- and sixth-grade students from Sinsheimer Elementary School in San Luis Obispo collaborated with local downtown business Junk Girls to create print and metal-stamped art.
The month-long program is called Build-A-Business and the students spent Friday evening selling the crafted artwork during Art After Dark. Their goal is to ultimately purchase trees to be planted in San Luis Obispo for Earth Day.
Organizers of the program and event Friday say it teaches students entrepreneurial and real-life business skills and instills philanthropic goals like recycling and giving back to the community.
"I think one of the things that was most exciting for them was to do the art," said Jill Laursen, who is a teacher at Sinsheimer Elementary and leads the program. "But then also see, how do you package it, how do you present it, and then to see it in a real store and sell it to customers that aren't just their parents was phenomenal for them."
Laursen said the expertise of Melissa and Jenny — owners of Junk Girls in San Luis Obispo — was invaluable and the program could not have been successful without them.
The trees purchased with the funds from the sale will be planted at the end of April at Sinsheimer Park in San Luis Obispo. This is done in collaboration with the Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo, ECOSLO.
