PFEW stands for Pennsylvania Free Enterprise Week, and was made to teach students heading to grades 11 or 12 about the American Free Enterprise system. This summer experience week teaches those students the financial and marketing aspects of a business, so those not interested in the numbers aspect can still participate. With every group of 20 or so students, there is an adult Company Advisor who will give important information to any issues, but they will not give direct answers. This is a competitive week, due to students participating against 21 other groups. This gives students the necessary guide to see if the business or college route is for them. For Hamburg Students, PFEW was held at Lycoming College, but other schools also go to Pennsylvania College of Technology, which are both in Williamsport, PA. For Ava Green and Riley Mohn, PFEW was only $150, meals and sleeping locations included. The PFEW site focuses on preparing students for their futures and provides meaningful learning experiences on balancing personal life and economic opportunities.
Ava Green, a senior at Hamburg Area High School, went to PFEW to expand her knowledge on business because she has her own business where she makes and sells jewelry. At PFEW, she was in group A3 which was designated to create pet supplies with a need, and they created Health Mate which tracks location and vitals of the pet, and is a pets version of a Fitbit. She was a historian for her group and acted as a shadow to the CEO most of the time. She kept notes and stayed organized and made sure the posters fit all of the requirements, along with holding the posters during the presentations. She most enjoyed the speech from sweethearts and heroes which was a MME guy named Tom Murphy who dissected the truth between figting and violence. He stated “death can impact a person’s life and nobody knows what they’re going through.” Food wise, she enjoyed the grilled cheese, the dessert bar, and mainly the Oreo cream pie and ice cream. Ava spent most of her time in the Quad, which was an outdoor area where students could sit, talk, or play games, and she took a nap on the benches. During her time there, she mainly connected with a group of four people: Hannah, Ryder, Shawn, and Connor, mainly connecting with Connor on a personal level. While she was there, Wednesday during week one was filled with a dance called ‘beats and treats’ where it had ice cream and good music and students could just hang out with the people there. She also went swimming and enjoyed just relaxing and thinking of nothing; taking a breather. During her leadership camp, Ava had an eye opening experience on teamwork and organization and said it gave a similar understanding that the sequal to Inside Out gave her, where it shows how to normalize dealing with new responsibilities and emotions. Compared to PFEW, Ava said her leadership camp was a more physically strenuating activity compared to a mentally straining activity.
Riley Mohn, a current Junior at HAHS, also went to PFEW during the first week. She went to this summer experience week to get college-living experience and to build her resume, along with the hopes of meeting people and trying the delicious food they offered. Riley was part of group B3, a group that covered personal accessories. Her team, metaMORPH, created a butterfly-themed set of bags that could change styles. The bags could be backpacks, handbags, or other types of bags due to the adjustable straps. As someone on the marketing team, Riley helped design the bags and advertisements, along with helping create the presentation at the end of the week. She also assisted creating origami butterflies to assist the subtle advertisements for her group. Her favorite aspect of the week was all the time the students got to spend with their companies, since she was on the marketing team and spent her time coloring and drawing as they socialized with the other coworkers. She also liked an event called “Junk Night”, where students had to pick from a pile of assorted ‘junk’ and create a product and an advertisement in under 30 minutes. Her group made a ‘Splish-Splash Fun Chair’ that was waterproof and had a cooler attachment. She met a person named Mel who reminded her of a friend from Hamburg, and they helped Riley step out of her comfort zone in the new environment. Riley connected the PFEW experience to the club group aspects of May Day along with a professional work environment. Out of the food options, Riley enjoyed the Mac and Cheese and the chocolate milk, along with the handmade Rice Krispies.
For more information about PFEW visit: https://www.pfew.org/
