For many entrepreneurs, it all starts with a dream or an idea. For others, it starts with a lamb. 

  Junior Jacob Capozella’s business launched when he joined the 4H club and was tasked with raising a goat and a sheep. Later on, he would buy flocks at a time to raise and then sell. 

  “I fell in love with the sheep but I didn’t really like the goat,” Capozella said. 

  Like many students, Capozella has to balance schoolwork and home life. Capozella’s success in raising and selling flocks of sheep to showmen proves that he has managed to do both. 

 “It’s hard to find the first priority. Obviously, it’s the sheep because they’re living animals…but it’s just hard to balance and do everything for both,” Capozella said. 

  Being a teenager in school while having a successful business is no small feat. Junior Maddie Harris, like Capozella, started her entrepreneurship with a hobby. She crocheted for seven years, making blankets for fun. Now, she creates and sells stuffed animals on Facebook. 

Balancing her schoolwork and business is “…actually really easy,” she said. “I can do it at school and it helps me focus.” 

  Harris’s business is also a stress reliever and a tool to help with her work.  When she crochets, her busy hands enable her mind to focus on the classwork.  

Similarly, senior Shane Bevins’s business started with him raising fish for a hobby. 

 “I had a little fish tank and I couldn’t figure out why all the fish were dying. So I ended up watching Youtube videos about it and saw all these people with these huge, expensive goldfish and I really wanted to do that,” Bevins said. 

  His Youtube binge turned into a passion for fish care. Bevins now works with his grandfather to design and stock indoor tanks and outdoor ponds. After Bevins graduates, he will scale back and keep fish as a hobby. 

  Running a business is a strain on any adult. However, these entrepreneurial students balance their businesses and school, proving that high schoolers can be successful businessmen and women.