Students of the Principles of Marketing class are creating a marketing plan involving the Lehigh Cement Factory to present in front of City Council

The Principles of Marketing class has been assigned a new project. Except this project will not be presented in front of students, it will be presented to the Cupertino City Council.

The project involves the Lehigh Cement Company’s plans to build a new pit for cement because the current one is drying up. However, building a new pit will create many negative externalities for the community.

It is the job of Principles of Marketing students to choose whether they are for the construction or against it. They will then create a marketing plan for their respective sides and present to the final judge at the end of the semester: City Council.

“Business is a practice, its not something you do in a classroom, you have to do it in real life,” Principles of Marketing teacher Carl Schmidt said.

Through this project, Schmidt was able to give students hands-on experience in the business world by getting City Council involved. He had used his connections within the community to contact DECA honorees who were interested to help out with the project, which enabled the students the opportunity to express their ideas to City Council. Whether or not high school students will sway their decision is still questionable.

“We get to literally directly talk to these people of the company and try to indoctrinate people to our cause whether or not we are pro or con for this expansion,” sophomore Romir Maheshwary said.

While the Marketing class makes their plans, the ROP class is following an alternate route to the same project. Instead of creating a marketing plan, the ROP class will be creating the marketing collateral for their plan.However, they will not be presenting their own designs to the City Council.

Because this project is not confined within MVHS,  the students are given an opportunity to have a say in the future of the Lehigh Cement Company.

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