Fire Up Panthers: Stockbridge students create a small business

by Judy Williams

Photo credit Judy Williams

Look out, Stockbridge. There’s a new small business in town that is not only successful, but it has ignited an entrepreneurial spirit in one Stockbridge Jr/Sr High School classroom.

Fire Up Panthers, a microbusiness involved in making and selling fire starters, is operated by eight energetic young men in the school’s special education program.

With the help of classroom teacher Ms. Kelsey Jennett, the students step by step turned a vague idea to an actual working and profitable business.

Grady Giddings, Brendon Fletcher, Paul Baird, Braden White, Travis Whitney, Tim Clark and Ms. Jennett following a PowerPoint presentation on Fire Up Panthers. Missing from the photo: Matthew Poole and Dustin Whitney.

Developing a plan
First, they needed a business plan, especially since permission is required to run the business from school. Jennett helped the students develop the plan and a PowerPoint presentation to go with it.

Step One was to prepare a list of the educational benefits of operating a business. The following of multi-step directions, applications of money skills and independent work skills were a few of the expected benefits.

Perhaps the biggest challenge came next. What business could be successful? Jennett gave the young entrepreneurs several suggestions. After a lot of discussion on the pros and cons of each, the class decided to make and sell fire starters.

But what would this business be named? After more brainstorming, the students decided to call their business Fire Up Panthers. And drawing inspiration from the name, class artist Grady Giddings created a logo.

“I could just picture in my mind what the logo should look (like),” Giddings said. “I started out by just drawing a panther paw and added the fire.”

Now that things were on a roll, some major planning still was ahead. How was this going to work? Students, under the guidance of Jennett, listed the steps for production and the needed materials.

But money is necessary to buy these materials and start production. Jennett’s parents, Tom and Jodi Jennett, came to the rescue by donating $200 to the project. With the $200 budget, the students had to be frugal and bargain shop for the best deal for two paper shredders, cupcake pans, cupcake liners and soy wax, packaging materials, and construction material for making the tags.

Getting down to business

Armed with their information, the eight young business tycoons presented their newly developed business plan before Stockbridge Jr/Sr High School Principal Jeff Trapp. With the help of Jennett, the students used a PowerPoint presentation to prove they had a doozy of a plan.
Trapp agreed, and permission granted for Fire Up Panthers.

Now, the real work could begin. Equipped with new supplies, students developed stations to work on various elements needed to create the fire starters.

Tim Clark shreds paper with the assistance of Austin, a LINK student.

Using the second shredder, Brendon Fletcher keeps up with the demand.

Travis Whitney (left) and Braden White (right) add cupcake liners to the pans and fill with shredded paper.

Senior classmate Dustin Whitney carefully handles the task of pouring the hot soy wax into the cupcake liners.

Grady Giddings (left) and Paul Baird bag and tag the orders. They are using tags that the class made earlier. The two are using Christmas-themed bags to package three fire starters each.

Fire Up Panthers’ fire starters are advertised to burn over 23 minutes, compared with the same amount of paper burning for 40 seconds. According to Braden White,  the whole class set up a test on their product in the woodworking classroom. Jennett used a lighter to start the fire, and the classmates timed how long the fire lasted.

The students are hoping their business is not just a flash in the pan and will continue after the holidays.

According to student Paul Baird, they plan to continue the business after Christmas. People can use the fire starters for campfires, he said.

As far as using the profits, the students have a long list, including a field trip, supplies and games for lunchtime, and guest speakers for assemblies. Student Tim Clark would like “cool guest speakers, like Dude Perfect.”

For now, Fire Up Panthers sales have been hot, with one customer buying 100 starters. As of Dec. 1, the class sold 143 packages of three, plus the 100, after only one ad on Facebook and by word of mouth. Kudos to our young businessmen and their teacher for a job well done.

There’s still time to get your fire starters before Christmas. A package of three for $3 can be purchased at the Jr/Sr High School office now until Dec. 21,  or contact Jennett by email at

jennettk@panthernet.net.