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MSD Students Launch Safety Book Series to Help Protect Children in Emergencies 2

Back row left to right: Nayiri Shmandura, Madelyn Feldman, Isabelle Feldman, Gabriella Rivera, Mitchell Albert, Gianni Waca, Isabella Cox, Sophia Reutershan, Courtney Shostack
Front row left to right: Alyssa Ali, Gabriela Trzeciak, Olivia Francesco, Georgia Wooley, Natalia Lopez, Peyton Boothe, Kyra Shultz (Courtesy photo)

A group of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School seniors has launched a student-run company that creates children’s books on how to stay safe during lockdowns and when encountering strangers.

Senior Isabella Cox, along with a group of her fellow students in their Hospitality and Entrepreneurship class, successfully set up and launched their own student-run company, producing two books. One focuses on lockdown safety, and the other on stranger danger; both topics were chosen to save precious lives.

Cox said these books were created for the elementary and early middle school age groups.

As for how she came up with this particular idea for a company, she said, “I just did. We were brainstorming in class, and it kind of came to me.”

Every year, Cox explains, the senior class partners with Junior Achievement of South Florida to start up a student-run company. The students learn and put into practice all the nuts and bolts of entrepreneurship.

Their first book, titled The Safety Squad: Safe And Sound, has already been printed in paperback, and a hardcover edition is being published by Jostens, a company known for publishing yearbooks and other products commemorating scholastic achievements.

This book is designed to educate children in an engaging, age-appropriate way, guiding them through three crucial steps during lockdown: listening to instructions, finding a safe place, and staying silent.

Mitchell Albert teaches the Hospitality and Entrepreneurship class and says his students did everything to make these books and their company a reality.

“It was written and illustrated by them,” he said.

Thus far, a stand has been set up at the Parkland Farmer’s Market to sell the first book, and they’ve reached out to United Way and set up a website to market their product.

“They’re getting tremendous experience,” Albert said, adding that business executives have come in to mentor his class. “I’m so proud of them and the experience they’re getting.”

The second book in the series, The Safety Squad: Power To Say No, teaches children about stranger danger in an engaging, age-appropriate way. This book will be published as a hardcover edition.

Cox is quite pleased with their new company’s products. “I’m very happy with how it turned out,” she said. “I think if one child’s life gets saved from these books, we made a real impact.” The class named their company, Think Safe Children’s Books. Both books are in the Safety Squad Series.

Albert has been teaching at MSD for 12 years and has taught the entrepreneurship class for the past eight. He believes the most important lessons his students take away from this class are intangibles such as teamwork, communication, presentation, and business structure.

Each year, the students develop a new business model idea, see it through to fruition, and achieve repeated success.

“We always make money,” he said, “ But this time it’s more meaningful. It can probably save someone’s life.”

Albert was teaching at MSD on Feb. 14, 2018, the day of the horrific shooting that took 17 lives, and he realized firsthand the importance of educating elementary school kids in a non-threatening way on what to do if there’s an active shooter.

At the time of the incident, Albert was at the school, and his triplets were attending it as well. One of the triplets was even recognized for his quick thinking when he heard gunshots and immediately responded. He made his classmates take cover and called 911.

As their teacher, Albert’s role is to guide his students through the process. According to him, it’s up to the class to identify a need or want and build on it. They need to draw up a plan, plan it, and ultimately sell it. In other words, do everything an entrepreneur would do when creating a new business.

And Albert says that a few of their program’s graduates have taken their experience from the course to enhance their own career paths. One former student was hired on the spot by Procter & Gamble when she told her interviewers all about the class.

For more information and to purchase books, visit their website.

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Author Profile

Martin Lenkowsky

Martin Lenkowsky moved to Coral Springs from NYC in 1982. He has a bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College. He has been both writer and editor for a number of South Florida publications since 1983. He considers features writing his specialty.