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College students learn to run a business through Frosty Fest partnership

By Tabitha Johnston - Chronicle Staff | Feb 2, 2024

Shepherd University business students sell hot chocolate and coffee to passersby, during Frosty Fest in downtown Shepherdstown on Saturday. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Three weeks ago, Shepherd University Assistant Professor of Business Administration James Dovel proposed an opportunity for students in his New Venture Creation class to create and run a small business during Frosty Fest, to give them some real-world business experience.

On Saturday and Sunday, members of that group of business majors could be seen staffing a booth, selling hot chocolate and coffee to passersby along South King Street.

“FrostyFest is a great opportunity for the youth in our community to come out and enjoy the weather and learn about Shepherd University as a potential higher education opportunity,” said Joshua Esposito, a business major from Martinsburg. “This project teaches us how to collaborate as a smaller group with specific objectives, while keeping in mind how our part impacts the entire operation with other groups working toward the same overall goal.”

According to junior business major Alexander Uccellini, of Hedgesville, the process of the class learning to work together toward an overall goal was not without its struggles.

“We had about a week to pump it all out — that’s pretty much the time we had. But we made it happen!” Uccellini said. “Having organization and management, too, was really important! Most of the class didn’t know what was happening, half the time. Management skills, communication skills, hands-on skills — all of that we learned throughout this project.”

Shepherd University business major Alexander Uccellini, of Hedgesville, helps run the ice-skate rental booth behind the Market House on Saturday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston

Once the stand got set up on Saturday morning, Uccellini noticed another need nearby and offered to help out with running the iceskate rental booth, since the three other classmates on his shift were equipped to manage their booth on their own, after the initial setup was completed.

“There’s four people on the time right now, and they needed somebody here to help the man running the ice rink,” Uccellini said, as he switched out a pair of skates on a shelf.

Regardless of which area he was working at, Uccellini recognized that he was gaining valuable experience.

“It’s kind of like practice for running a real-life business. That’s what these past weeks have been leading up to, actually putting in practice what we’ve learned in our previous entrepreneurship classes,” Uccellini said, before confirming his plan to go into business for himself after graduation. “That’s the hope! I’m not sure now what kind of business I want to run. I just know that I want to work for myself! I’d rather not be part of the rat race.”

Keeping busy selling hot chocolate and coffee were his classmates Morgan Fleming, of Martinsburg; Cole Easterday, of Clear Spring, Md.; and Youssouf Bakayoko, of Abidjan on the Ivory Coast.

“We raised somewhat decent [proceeds] from what we’re selling,” Fleming said, noting that those proceeds would be going toward Shepherd’s high school scholarship business contest. “Just the experience of getting to run our own business has been worth it! [Professor Dovel] let us focus on different aspects of running a business, where it was accounting, supply or just more of the management side of things.”

The students also worked together with Frosty Fest’s organizers to help promote the festival by creating graphics; contacting Shepherd clubs, organizations and departments to participate; and helping build brand awareness. Also sold at the stand was a fundraiser for the Delta Sigma Pi fraternity, a Shepherd University version of Monopoly, called “Shep-opoly.”

Other members of the class involved with the project included: Bela Jannotta, of Shepherdstown; Spencer Hamilton, of Harpers Ferry; Emma Norton, Malakai Brown, Raymond Daniel, Taleah Beckett, Gabriel McDonald, Adrienne Byrd and Daniel Goodavage, all of Martinsburg; Miranda Payne and Miguel Aguilar, of Inwood; Demya Amis, Hagerstown, Md.; Isabel Mammano, of Winchester, Va.; Donte Harrison, of Washington, D.C.; and Wyatt Miles, of Waterford, Va.

“You have an idea for what you can do — about how a business works. But the actuality is sometimes far different,” Bakayoko said.