Project ECHO at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management
PROJECT ECHO- Real World Skills in the Classroom

As I drove into Los Angeles on a rainy Sunday morning, I was grateful for the strong cup of coffee grasped in my hand. I knew that L.A.’s traffic and a rainy walk to the UCLA Anderson School of Management was still ahead of me. Being native to Connecticut and relatively new to California, you might say I’m a tad unfamiliar with the L.A. freeways and streets. Figuring that as long as I found my way to this “Project Echo” event on UCLA’s campus on time, I’d get a chance to grab another Joe, network with some new people, enjoy the business savvy high school student teams present their plans and then call it a day. As a former 8th grade teacher now working in the world of business for Pexagon Technology, I was also looking forward to interacting with high school students again. Well, I can tell you that I surely underestimated the plans that Bob Barboza and Kid’s Talk Radio had in store for me!

I made it to the School of Management on time, despite the rain, but did not get my second cup of coffee. I am convinced that Bob Barboza has eyes in the back of his head! I was spotted immediately by Bob, who introduced me without delay to L.A. area principals attending Project Echo in support of their entrepreneurial students. Then I had the great pleasure of playing a “fly on the wall” as the professionally-clad group, Animo Watts # 1 ninth graders, practiced for their chance to impress the judges. Providing guidance and feedback were their teachers, their UCLA mentors and Dinah Consuegra, their principal.

However, I never had the opportunity to see their full presentation or anyone else’s, as Bob ushered me, DeAngelo and Stacy from Animo Watts, into the portable broadcasting studio of Kid’s Talk Radio! Plunked in front of a microphone and camera, Bob announced, “You’re on!” and the three of us stared at each other, wide-eyed and sweaty palmed with fear. With a quiver in our voices, we practiced broadcast openings, closings and questions for the interviews we were apparently going to host and I think we actually developed a knack for it, and beyond that - perhaps a taste for it!

Stacy, DeAngelo and I had an incredible experience personally meeting and interviewing many of the ingenious minds behind the Project Echo high school businesses. After our first broadcast, each of us waited eagerly for our next opportunity to speak into the PNN microphone and hear Bob’s announcement, “Quiet in the studio!” Our interviewees included Wendy Harris, Executive Producer of KNBC, students from Santa Monica High School, and several teams that took home first place prizes of $1,000 for investment into their respective businesses.

My day was certainly much different than I had envisioned, but as a representative of Pexagon Technology, an innovative company with unique approaches to technology, it was encouraging to see the innovation and enthusiasm of these students today, and certainly much more fun than I had expected! I believe that Stacy and DeAngelo might just agree with me. What a huge success for everyone involved in Project Echo, and thank you to the many educators who dedicate their time, energy and passion to make programs like this available and meaningful to their students!

“By Liz Reemsnyder, with Kid’s Talk Radio and Pexagon Technology, Inc.”

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