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Johnston Elementary students have created a business with the sole purpose of helping a New Orleans school impacted by Hurricane Katrina.

Students in Gayle Selak's fourth-grade class at the Woodstock school have created "Book Mark-It," which makes and sells bookmarks to buy new books for Andrew Jackson Elementary School in Chalmette, La.

The class will begin selling the bookmarks for 50 cents each on Monday, and will use the proceeds to purchase books for the school. Holly Carter, a third-grade teacher at Johnston, is from New Orleans and told Mrs. Selak about the school and its needs.

The class has set the goal of selling about 2,000 bookmarks to buy 100 books, Mrs. Selak said. Students and staff are buying the bookmarks, which also are for sale to anyone in the community who wants to help.

To make the business work, the class was divided into three main departments: accounting, production and marketing.

The accounting department is responsible for keeping track of the proceeds of the upcoming sale. The production team makes each bookmark, using an assembly line model. The marketing department is responsible for advertising the students' efforts.

On each bookmark is one of six poems the class chose as its best during a poetry contest in February.

Book Mark-It originated as Mrs. Selak's Teach 21 capstone project, which Cherokee County School District teachers can complete in exchange for receiving new classroom technology.

Mrs. Selak said she chose to share the project with her students because it was a "neat way to get the kids involved."

"I also teach in this format," she said. "It goes with my style."

The class business recently got the stamp of approval from a Woodstock city official.

Mayor Donnie Henriques, a New Orleans native, showed his support of the students' efforts by recently visiting the school.

Henriques said he talked about his experiences in New Orleans and his relatives who were affected by the disaster. He also gave the students ideas for the bookmarks.

"I told them they could put things on the bookmarks that are familiar to the area," said the mayor, who purchased 40 bookmarks during his visit.

Mrs. Selak said along with meeting all the curriculum standards, the "business" could help her students think about others on a larger scale.

"I hope they walk away with knowing they helped other people in need," she said.

Ten-year-old Springer Herdt, the son of Dean and Merry Herdt of Woodstock, said he decided to help because he wanted to make sure other children had books to read.

Springer, who came up with the business's name, said he and his classmates are learning about helping others.

"They can learn how to make a difference and how to help other people," he said.

Ajia Anthony, the 10-year-old daughter of Roger and LaToya Anthony of Woodstock, said she wanted to help because she saw "how much damage was done" by the hurricane.

She also said students could learn "how to handle big responsibilities" from the Book Mark-It business.

Alexis Hinden, the 9-year-old daughter of James and Karen Hinden of Woodstock, said the class also is learning about economics.

"They can learn about supply and demand and they can also learn how to make a difference," she said.

kdixon@cherokeetribune.com

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