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The “microdollar” was the currency of choice Tuesday morning at the City of Franklin Microsociety Magnet School, where students held their first-ever Market Day. 

The event culminated five months of work by students in government agencies and economic ventures. Students produced all of the wares and services bought and sold at the market. They wrote business plans and purchased business licenses. They used business math to calculate unit costs, determine their capital, raw materials and human resources, and identify profit or loss. In determining the success or failure of their businesses, they considered product price, quality, promotion, target audience and location at the marketplace. 

Ventures included jewelry, postcards, T-shirts, an interactive Rainforest Museum, masks, potted plants, refrigerator magnets, food concessions, coloring books and “recycled” art. 

The adults who visited the market had to overcome a steep exchange rate to acquire microdollars to make purchases, but the students were flush with cash, which they had earned through hard work at their City of Franklin jobs. 

Microsociety is an innovative school design where children create a microcosm of the real world inside the schoolhouse. 

In addition to establishing a host of local businesses, City of Franklin citizens have established their own government including a city council, central bank, publishing center, post office, recycling center, health and safety department, peacekeeping agency and warehouse. 

School officials said that the success of this first market day was made possible not only by the hard work and dedication of students and their teachers, but by all the parents and community volunteers who supported this society’s first year.