“It’s tough for kids to get out of school environment sometimes but I appreciate when they still get to be learning, some days are worth getting out of school for to learn about different things,” said Tim Bates, coordinator of the Economic Day of Understanding, held at St. Vincent college on Wednesday, March 4. Both Larobe and Derry students attended, The Greater Latrobe – Ligonier Valley Chamber of Commerce sponsored and coordinated the entire event.
Bates described the program as “A marketing program developed to display how marketing, entrepreneurship, and business all work together in reality. There is groupwork that allows them to be creative. They also learn how all things they learned from presenters get put into practice.”
George Glenn; marketing representative, spoke about how “Ads need to have features, benefits, and experience”. He also made it clear that when selling products it is important to know the customer and get a one to one relationship with them, as well as get them to trust you. “When people think of marketing, they usually think of salespeople, but the true marketers are the invisible guys, who are behind the scenes,” said Glenn.
Jeff Croushore; representative from idlewild & soakzone, has been speaking at the event for 9 years. Croushore spoke about the difference between Kennywood, Sandcastle, and Idlewild. “It is extremely important to target the right audiences. For Kennywood and Sandcastle, we target mostly teens and thrill-seekers, but for Idlewild, we target families with younger children. It’s all about strategy,” said Croushore. He also talked about the importance of customer value and social media.
The presenters proved to be very helpful. “I like it because we bring in outside speakers, it really helps the students,” said Bates.
Not only do students learn about marketing but they learn strategies from marketing that can help them with any future career. They presenters also make it evident that what you learn in school can and will be applied later in life. “The students get to see what they learn is practiced ‘in the real world’”, said Bates. “Though it’s tough to get students to come, the teachers who attend really see the value and the importance of what kids learn from this experience, and that is essential.”
At the end of the seminar, students had to work in groups to create and advertise a new attraction for either Sandcastle, Idlewild, or Kennywood. The real challenge of the activity though, was to see how well students couse advertise it in front of an audience. From Latrobe, Mia Vitula, Tyler Brown, Dontae Leone, Abby McKracken, and Sammie Sarraf won for their superhero ride at Kennywood.

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