This Memorial Day weekend, look for Redmond High School entrepreneurship students outside PCC Natural Market, 11435 Avondale Rd.; the Bella Botega QFC, 8867 161st Ave. NE; and the Bear Creek Safeway, 17246 Redmond Way, as they sell “EastSide Edge” discount cards.

Priced at $5, the cards are good for deals at Eastside businesses, from restaurants and hair salons to auto maintenance shops.

The endeavor is tied to entrepreneurship curriculum. In a semester-long Junior Achievement unit, the students have formed a corporation to develop and promote a product to appeal to adults in the community.

Sales, production, marketing and finance teams of two to four students each, are reporting to RHS seniors Zurka Wolford and Morgan Burke, the CEO and COO of EastSide Edge.

Adult supervisors are RHS teacher Grace Brady and a volunteer coach, Lance Rummell from Smith-Barney in Bellevue.

The teens themselves approached local business owners, explained the benefits of participating in EastSide Edge and negotiated contracts. Next, they strategized on how to pitch their product.

While she’s long been focused on a career in medicine, Wolford said her business classes at RHS and especially her stint as a CEO have taught her how to manage others and earn their respect.

Junior Patrick Mulligan foresees a performing arts career but is “taking lessons from this class to apply to that. It has taught me how to confront businesses, dealing with problems in different ways.”

Likewise, junior Renae Kester plans to become an archaeologist but wants business knowledge as a back-up.

“I think everyone should take a business class,” Burke stated. “I liked how the simulation included making deadlines, learning interview skills.”

The students consider PCC’s location as “the center of our target market,” said Joe Junor, an eleventh grader, because many RHS students and their families use that strip mall as a quick stop for breakfast or snacks when they’re not in downtown Redmond.

At the close of the entrepreneurship class, students will evaluate themselves and one another on their “job performances.” That’s a tricky but useful skill, said Brady.

“There’s a fine line between praising themselves for what they do well and looking at what they don’t do so well. … You want to give yourself enough credit, not sell yourself short, if you want to get raises and promotions,” she noted.

For more information about EastSide Edge, contact Zurka Wolford at zurka@live.com.