EAST AURORA, N.Y. — Students at East Aurora High School are replacing homework with entrepreneurship, by running their own design and repair business, Blue Devil Design, from inside the classroom.
“I love it, and I wouldn’t ask for anything else,” Zoe Wiech said.
Zoe is a senior at East Aurora.
On top of her classwork, the 17-year-old is the CEO of the small business, Blue Devil Design.
“I love this class, it’s my favorite class of the day,” Zoe said. “It’s not just me, it’s everybody here, they work all day and work very hard.”
Zoe's business has about 15 of those hard workers who do everything from designing engraved cups to fixing lawnmowers and snowblowers.
The students are gearing up for their holiday sale, and anybody can make orders or ask to get their lawnmowers or snowblowers repaired by emailing bddsales@eak12.org or calling (716) 687-2528.
Locals like Brandon Pieczynski have called these students for help, because just last week, his winter nightmare happened.
“We had that whiteout last week, first start [of the snowblower], it started but it wouldn’t move any snow.”
After a quick call to Blue Devil Design, Brandon’s snowblower was back up and running in just 4 days.
“It gives them an opportunity to learn, you get your machine fixed, and it’s local,” Brandon said.
The business will pick up any broken lawnmowers or snowblowers within a 5-mile radius of the school and return them to their owners once they're fixed.
Senior Patrick Flaherty has helped the business fix over 30 lawnmowers and snowblowers since they opened in 2022.
“I just love doing any hands-on work,” Patrick said.
However, since it’s a class, nobody gets paid to work.
All the profits from sales go right back into making their business better.
Students, like Jacob Steele, start the class without any experience.
“This would be my first time ever having to do anything with engines,” Jacob said. “This was new, learning everything.”
They all leave with new skills and a future career in mind.
“There’s a hope to own my own electrician company one day,” Patrick said.
“I also plan on becoming an electrician one day,” Jacob said.
“I was telling my parents, 'I want to go into business',” Zoe said. “If it wasn’t for this, I wouldn’t know what I would be going to college for next year."
