ATG Partners to Teach Students Saleforce’s Lemonade Stand
M iddle school students at the Grand Center Arts Academy in downtown St. Louis recently got an introduction to potential careers in information technology and hands-on experience with Lemonade Stand, a Salesforce® app, thanks to a group of Advanced Technology Group (ATG) consultants and their middle school teacher.
ATG consultants spent several days in Andrew Goodin’s Makerspace class, teaching students core business and technology skills through the Lemonade Stand Trailhead.
A Trailhead training created by Salesforce, Lemonade Stand shows students the importance of creating a business plan, solving for solutions, and handling everyday complications of running a business. It also teaches the basics of Salesforce object and relationship building and demonstrates how automating everyday processes can make businesses more efficient.
“In Mr. Goodwin’s Makerspace class, students are encouraged to try new kinds of technology and art projects,” according to Kevin York, a director in ATG’s St. Louis office who spearheaded the effort to connect ATG and the school. “We enjoyed coming into the classroom to share our expertise, and it was a natural fit given our partnership and involvement with Salesforce’s platform and application.”
In the classroom, students participated in a skit to show how hectic order taking and fulfillment can be and why a tool like Salesforce is useful in addressing the everyday issues of running a business, York said. ATG consultants York, Sean Philbin, Gabe Kording, and Dan Pecher worked one-on-one with students throughout the Salesforce Trailhead experience. At the end of the class, several students made presentations, and the class could see real-time ordering and fulfillment processes.
According to Goodwin, the class was a “wonderful opportunity” for students. “I can’t wait to see how students run with it. Thanks to ATG for dedicating the time and energy to make this happen. It’s so cool that middle schoolers have dived into Salesforce.”
Based on the success of the middle school class, ATG is considering leading more advanced modules with high school students, York said.