Junior Achievement is a non-profit program that teaches students about entrepreneurship by providing the resources and opportunity to start and run their own businesses. The students are responsible for everything from the initial concept to keeping track of finances, production, sales and more.
You Choose is a Junior Achievement company comprised of senior students from Hoover High School in North Canton, Ohio, and they are working for positive change by selling drink tumblers with encouraging messaging.
When first developing their idea, the students reflected on the difficult decisions teenagers face every day. They decided they wanted their brand to help influence their peers to make smart and healthy choices. Their company name, You Choose, was inspired by advice one of the team members received during a moment of peer pressure: “You choose every choice you make and you choose how to live your life.”
They decided on drink tumblers for the vehicle of their message.
“We noticed that everyone has a tumbler to hold coffee or drinks in the morning. We thought this was a perfect opportunity to spread our brand,” said Drew Harder, VP of Sales with You Choose, “We wanted to have our tumblers with positive oriented messages in front of everyone all day to help them make positive decisions that would lead to a healthy lifestyle in everything they do.”
The students outsource their tumblers from a distributor that ships directly to their team. Once in hand, they engrave the messages on the bright colored tumblers in-house. The messages are hand-selected by the You Choose team and include words such as “confidence,” “honesty,” “positivity” and “strength.” They even researched which colors are most associated with each word.
Since starting You Choose in 2019, the students have launched a website and keep in touch with their customers through social media and email marketing. In addition to website sales, they sell tumblers at craft shows and have even begun merchandising in local businesses like Logan’s Sporting Goods and their local barbershop. To learn more about You Choose, visit their website.
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