Under the Umbrella

Company800 becomes WCA’s new School of Business and Communications.

Students+in+Jonathan+Horn%E2%80%99s+business+basics+class+present+their+first+products.+Feedback+and+data+received+were+used+to+make+improvements+and+determine+pricing.

Morgan Koetting

Students in Jonathan Horn’s business basics class present their first products. Feedback and data received were used to make improvements and determine pricing.

Ten subjects. Five teachers. One business. Westminster’s School of Business and Communication have been compiled collectively under one name: company800. Started by Scott Vonder Bruegge and Jonathan Horn, business and communications teachers, company800, named because of WCA’s address at 800 Maryville Centre Drive, is designed to act like an umbrella under which all of the other business and communications classes fall.

“[Company800] is less about a subject area, and more about a way of thinking through education and how students learn,” said Horn.

Rather than each class working strictly independently, they can contract other classes to work with them. For example, when the entrepreneurship classes are creating a business, they hire the graphics design class to make the logo.  In this way, students can be more focused on what they know best, and, thus, they can collaborate to make a better product.  Not only does this teach students about communication, it also prepares them for the business world.

“In business basics, one of our projects was to develop a mock company that sold a product that WCA kids could use,” said Rachel Rogers, senior.

The theory is that people learn best by doing, so the lessons and framework of the classes are designed around that idea.

“We need to get kids learning and doing, but not under a fake scenario. [They] need to be starting businesses that will be seen by people.  When your work is on display, you take the approach very differently,” said Horn.

Company800 incorporates business, design, and communication, giving students a better picture of what a business looks like.  The courses that fall under Company800’s umbrella are connected, each class being able to help the other.

Those courses include newspaper, yearbook, graphic design, and economics among others, totaling to ten subjects.  Though this is Company800’s first year, the idea was practiced under the newspaper and yearbook classes. Graduates of WCA have commented on how helpful it was to gain real world experience in such environments.

“Yearbook class was so valuable because it provided me an outlet to develop and apply my love of art in a practical way,” said Sierra Mathews, class of 2013.

 

Learn more about Company 800 on their website: www.company800.com