28.07.2008, Karstadt awards prizes to the best student-run companies

Essen, July 28, 2008. Three first prizes, three second prizes and special prizes. These are the prizes which Karstadt is awarding in the competition entered by schools across Germany as part of the RUCK youth initiative. The project, which is called Schülerfirmen schafft Chancen für die Berufswelt (student-run companies create opportunities for the world of work) and covers all schools and subjects, offers students the opportunity to train key qualifications which are so important for a career later in life. These include initiative, ability to work in a team and sense of responsibility. It also gives them the opportunity to find out about business connections in a setting which is realistic and task-oriented. The nationwide competition encouraged students to set up their own companies. The best companies have now been selected from the 93 entries. The winners will receive Karstadt laptops for schools and other attractive prizes.

The training package
In Fall 2007, Karstadt provided every one of the 15,000 secondary schools throughout the country with educational material relating to the student company concept. In these companies, the students design business ideas as would happen in a real company. They plan, produce and market products or provide services. The student-run companies are not commercial enterprises but rather open school projects which have a pedagogical objective: teaching basic career-related skills is the main focus, not financial earnings.

The teaching project was accompanied by a nationwide competition. Karstadt intends to give recognition to staff as well as rewarding particularly high levels of commitment and dedication from students. This is why students were asked to set up student-run businesses and send in their business plans by 20 June 2008. There was a big response. Of the 194 registrations, 93 schools sent their competition entries in. Karstadt sent 22,800 copies of the free, 64-page youth-orientated comic Schule aus - mach was draus! (School's Out! - Max It Out!) to every school that registered to take part in the competition.

What the jury found most impressive about the competition entries was what the students were able to get up and running with limited start-up capital, smart ideas and a great deal of commitment. Having assessed the documents sent in, the jury consisting of representatives of Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH and CARE-LINE, the publisher, picked the best companies. Three companies won first prize: Bits for Kids from the Garz/Rügen Regional School for their idea to teach primary school children how to use PCs, bio-pflanzen-schule (Bioplant school) from the Parkschule Essingen which sells bioplants and Dolli Teens from Dollinger Realschule in Biberach, which manufacture and sell puzzles from Biberach. The winners are awarded 3 laptops each for their schools by Karstadt. Each student also receives an MP3 player, which was sponsored by Philips.

Three more student-run companies were awarded 2nd Prize: Pestalozzi-Gymnasium in Dresden with Pimp.My.Brain.S-GmbH, which provides extra-curricular tuition to students, Ignaz-Reder-Realschule in Mellrichstadt, with its Milchbar (milk bar store) which operated at break time and Realschule Georgsmarienhütte, which ran its own Pupils Company photography service, all receive a laptop each for their school.

The jury also announced three special prizes: The Creativity price was awarded to the Sonderpädagogische Förderzentrum in Altenstadt (a support centre for special educational needs) for its creative "pocket workshop". The Leonardo da Vinci Campus Gymnasium in Nauen received the special up-and-coming trader prize for its "DA School Shop" and St. Bonaventura-Realschule in Dillingen a. d. Donau with its student-run company called BonaRegens is awarded the Integrative Company prize. The prize awarded by Karstadt to these three schools is a laptop each. Winners of the 2nd prize and the special prizes also receive a Karstadt voucher worth €100. The prizes are to be awarded to the winners in the Karstadt branches near their schools. All the other participants will receive certificates to motivate them and to say thank you.

Press contact:
Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH
Corporate Communications
Michael Scheibe
Telephone: 0201 / 727 - 2537
E-mail: michael.scheibe@karstadt.de