2/6/2007 8:55:00 AM Big Quil Enterprises earns $100,000 award as entrepreneurial 4-H club growing aquaculture business (See video)
Big Quil Enterprises members include (from left) Charlie Baker, Quilcene High School science teacher; Joy Baisch, Big Quil Enterprises co-coordinator; students Brandan Schleich, Josh Irwin, Chelsea Wong, James Roden and Marissa Suarez; and Joe Baisch, big Quil Enterprises co-coordinator. - Photo courtesy of WSU 4-H
By Patrick J. Sullivan
Click link below to see video
Representing one of the biggest student-business success stories ever to come out of Jefferson County, the education and business partnership that sponsors Big Quil Enterprises has won a $100,000 award.
The Northwest Area Foundation announced Feb. 2 that the Jefferson County towns of Brinnon and Quilcene won its "Great Strides Award" and the $100,000 grant intended to help the student-based Big Quil Enterprises prepare young people for living-wage jobs and community success.
The award officially goes to the Quilcene/Brinnon Connecting Schools and Communities program, and many people share the credit. Details are yet to be worked out, but the money is intended to support Big Quil Enterprises, an official 4-H club that is part of a partnership project among Washington State University Cooperative Extension, the Quilcene School District, and Taylor Shellfish Farms.
"The sustainability of this project is really important as a model of youth entrepreneurship," said Pam Roberts, 4-H coordinator for Jefferson County. "Big Quil Enterprises has got to become a profit-making venture at some point. They're not there yet, but I think the Northwest Area Foundation sees the potential for it to get there, and that's why they are investing the funds."
"We are so thankful for being recognized by the Northwest Area Foundation with the Great Strides Award," said Joe Baisch, co- coordinator of Quilcene/Brinnon Connecting Schools and Communities. "There are many in the community who contributed to this success. The award money will allow us to continue our work building a youth-directed economic engine in South Jefferson County."
Quilcene students
Student vocational programs have been based out of Quilcene High School since 1972. The first program was Ranger Industries and included commercial shrimping, the manufacture of shrimp pots, and the production and sale of ceramic "logger" ashtrays.
In more recent years the Shellfish Club, led by dedicated science teacher Charles Baker, sponsored events and raised money for aquaculture educational exchange trips to Europe.
The program evolved further when Quilcene School applied for and received a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant.
Katherine Baril, WSU Extension agent for Jefferson County, proved instrumental in shepherding the project for several years. Pam Roberts, former Quilcene principal who was in on the Gates application process, now helps in her role with 4-H.
Business owners Joe and Joy Baisch of Brinnon became involved, providing invaluable assistance and direction. Quilcene teachers help with classroom instruction on ecology and aquaculture.
Shellfish industry
Now, as Big Quil Enterprises, students from Quilcene and Brinnon harvests oysters from a leased beach on Big Quilcene Bay and sell to Taylor Shellfish Farms based in Shelton. Taylor Shellfish has stepped forward to provide corporate mentorship.
"These kids don't just go out and pick oysters," Roberts noted. "They go out and really manage the beach. They removed all the old oysters not in a healthy condition. They planted new oysters. They're using several different propagation techniques and doing a scientific model by comparing the success rate related to these different techniques. They've learned GIS mapping. They do water quality. To further enrich their technology training, they learn web design and video production. All of these things help the kids to be ahead of the curve, technologically, compared to other kids in the state."
They also learn real-life business lessons. For example, Taylor Shellfish used to donate supplies to the program. This year, the students bought the supplies in order to experience the full impact of what it takes to operate a business.
Big Quil Enterprises has created jobs and educational opportunities in the aquaculture industry. Aquaculture is a $73 million-per-year industry in Washington, and Jefferson County's 40 shellfish operators account for 20 percent of those in the state.
Total operations for locations situated on Hood Canal, Discovery Bay and Kilisut Harbor generate $18 million to $20 million in annual revenue, according to the Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association.
School, business
Big Quil Enterprises (BQE) involves students from kindergarten through 12th grade. High school students can volunteer hours for BQE, for which they earn points. As they build up points - their individual assets in BQE - they can "spend" their assets in the form of reimbursement for educational trips and projects.
"It's not like the kids get cash," Roberts said. "There is incentive for kids to pursue educational activities and goals and to enrich their educational experience."
Big Quil Enterprises is an entrepreneurial 4-H club that is still in its infancy, Roberts noted. "The goal will be to leverage this award for the health of Big Quil Enterprises so it is a sustainable project which other schools and communities can learn from," she said.
Special award
Four Great Strides awards were given this year in recognition of the innovative steps the recipients have taken to reduce long-term poverty.
Brinnon and Quilcene won the 2007 Great Strides Award for capitalizing on social assets and leadership to develop an aquaculture industry that can reverse local economic and wage decline. The combined towns of 4,000 have a poverty rate of 11 percent.
"In our work, we've observed that many communities have a hard time acknowledging the poverty suffered by their own citizens," reported Karl Stauber, president and CEO of the Northwest Area Foundation. "But our work has also shown us that there are scores of communities that can, and are, working to reduce poverty long term, and that they have powerful lessons to share. The Great Strides awards are meant to applaud the bold and innovative steps communities are taking to reduce poverty and make lasting change that will lead to opportunities for everyone in the community."
"Members of Brinnon and Quilcene are not willing to cede opportunity of future prosperity to the waning of the once-thriving timber industry," noted a release from the foundation.
Other 2007 Great Strides winners include the cities of Independence, Ore., White Earth Reservation, Minn., and Westhope, N.D. The four communities were selected from a field of 28 applicants.
The recipients were selected using the criteria of inclusiveness (involvement of community members from diverse sectors and groups), regional impact (interaction with, and awareness of, other communities facing similar issues in their geographic area), asset-based perspective (recognition of the community's existing strengths), economic engines (involvement with businesses and other organizations that fuel the local economy), and leadership (efforts to nurture leaders from different public and private sectors, ages and genders).
The Northwest Area Foundation, headquartered in St. Paul, Minn., is committed to helping communities reduce poverty in its eight-state region of Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. For additional information about the foundation, visit www.nwaf.org or call 651-224-9635.
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