Dec. 6th is a big day for all TREP$ members. The marketplace is open at 6 a.m. and the middle schoolers are ready to sell out! TREP$ is a middle school entrepreneurial club, the antecedent for the high school club Future Business Leaders of America(FBLA).

TREP$ partners with the high school students in FBLA to teach the youth about being an entrepreneur and how personal ideas can be brought to light and turned into very successful businesses. Students from both TREP$ and FBLA come together every other Wednesday for an hour and 15 minutes to talk about their proposed business ideas and how they will create or source their products.

FBLA is a club run by both advisor Cathy Gilligan and student president Joseph Cappa. Gilligan is the business teacher at Kinnelon High School as well as the advisor for FBLA, DECA, ColtsVest (KHS Investment Club), and the National Business Honor Society (NBHS). Gilligan started teaching and advising clubs at Kinnelon High School five years ago and has loved helping out ever since.

“My favorite part about helping out with TREP$ is inspiring younger students to become passionate about entrepreneurship. Hopefully, the fellow FBLA members and I are motivating the TREP$ members to join FBLA in High School, and be the future business owners.”

Joseph Cappa is a four-year member of the club, was a treasurer in his junior year, and is now president of the club in his senior year. Cappa is always a positive influence on other peers in FBLA and puts in countless helping the students of TREP$ learn and create their products. “I would say my favorite part about working in TREP$ is inspiring the younger kids’ passion for entrepreneurship while allowing them to have fun learning about business.”

Middle school students have from mid-October to early December to come up with ideas and get them ready for the big day of Dec. 6. In the days leading up to the fair, students compile their supplies and get to work on their products or organize the selling of their products for the selling floor of the Pearl R Miller Middle School gym.

TREP$ members love to work with the FBLA members because they are encouraged to learn with other kids in school. As Gilligan says, “The FBLA members mentor and assist the younger TREP$ students. The allure of the co-op is the ‘student to student’ mentorship. The younger students look up to the older students, so being a positive role model is essential.”

When the members of FBLA all come together to talk and help out with TREP$, it benefits the learning and excitement that the kids have. Looking up to the high school students is a benefit for all as the kids can learn more about entrepreneurialism and the high school students learn how to teach others. Regardless of the results, all of these students are the Future Business Leaders of America!