July 2011

  • Occupy MicroSociety

    It was a journalist’s dream. Putting on his reporter’s visor and badge, arming himself with his black steno pad, 4th grader Jacob couldn’t believe his luck. He had the opportunity to do something big. To expose what was really going on with the Myersville Senators. The inside scoop, as they called it. There was a…

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  • Turning Setbacks Into Opportunities

    Standing before his employees, all seated around the rectangular table for their Monday business meeting, 4th grade manager, Malcolm, shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t get it,” he declared. Scratching his cropped hair, he pointed at the graph that his bookkeeper had prepared. “We haven’t sold a single duct tape change purse.”   The employees looked…

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  • The Business of Caring

    We have all heard the adage that it takes a village to raise a child, but its converse is also true. The student citizens of Scottie Land, Sageland Elementary’s MicroSociety, have proven that children have the power to raise a community, even in the midst of tragedy. When the Scottieland MicroSociety Executive Board, composed of…

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  • Listening to Your Employees is Good Business

    It was in the checkout line of the Publix on a food shopping errand with Dad that an entrepreneurial vision first sprang in fifth grade Jordan’s mind. He watched the line of kids in front of the quarter machines with intent interest. There was just something about those machines that beckoned for change. It wasn’t…

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  • Health Is Good Business

    White hat resting comfortably atop his dark braids, Sabian had all the swagger and confidence of an Iron Chef. “To get your pancakes to come out the same size,” he shared his secret “all you have to do is use an ice cream scoop.” Looking at his restaurant patrons, he shrugged his shoulders, then flipped…

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  • A Star Is Born

    Everyone said 6th grader Cheyenne was destined for stardom. Whenever her teachers wanted to perform a skit, Cheyenne was the first choice. But, to be quite honest, it bothered Chey. She loved being good at something, but she didn’t want it to be the only thing she could do. What if she hurt herself? What…

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  • Turning a Crisis Around

    Gathered around the table for their weekly business meeting, the employees of Scottie Glee-ater, the entertainment venture in Sageland Elementary’s MicroSociety, were facing their first financial crisis. Their annual loan packet was due to the credit union in an hour and they were more than just a few Micro dollars short.    “Look, we need…

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  • MicroSociety Reaches Children’s Hospital in Kenya

    At the stroke of midnight on the first of January, the brilliant Times Square ball descends, signifying the birth of a new year, a time to renew, reinvent, and reenergize. As the confetti swirls through the air, there’s something else afloat with it–Hope. Hope that no matter how fulfilling last year was, the year ahead…

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  • Time for a Change

          Jeremiah was a bully. And he knew it. The fiery look in his eye proved it.  Everyone was always telling him that he was “so mean”. Mean. Mean. Mean. It’s all he heard. He didn’t try to be. But their words reminded him that he had to live up to the label.…

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  • Signed, Sealed, and Delivered

           Somebody at the Imagine Penn Hills Post Office had helped themselves to a five finger discount. They had a burglar, a thief, a regular sticky-fingers, in their midst. However you said it, the situation was the same and money was missing!“Uh oh,” declared Lily, the 2nd grade manager of the Postal Agency,…

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