Business law students are gaining real-world experience by participating in St. Thomas’ first, for-profit class project.

Students in professor John Del Vecchio’s business law 354 class said they will offer self-defense classes to the community for a fee on Tuesday and on Nov. 19 in the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex.

The class is designed to put business theory into practice, and Del Vecchio instructed the students, to come up with a product or service that could be marketed and sold to the campus community and the greater St. Paul metro area. Each student in the class is a business partner, and a near-unanimous vote decided self-defense classes would be the project’s focus.

Each student in the class owns an equal share of the partnership, called the General 11. Del Vecchio acts as an investor in the project by providing start-up money through an interest-free loan. The money that is made from the self defense courses will first go back to reimbursing Del Vecchio, and the rest will be dispersed evenly between all the partners.

Del Vecchio said he loves teaching the course and doesn’t mind investing in the class because of the experiential learning that takes place.

“It’s wonderful to see (the business) unfold as they decide and make decisions. I’m the coach, they are the ones doing the work,” Del Vecchio said. “I encourage them to find their goals and move forward.”

Senior Mary Rogers, one of the business partners, wanted the self defense classes because of the benefits it would offer.

“The overall goal is to benefit educationally and spread the word about self defense, especially for college women,” Rogers said.

After learning about various business principles in class, the students went to Campus Life to get the event approved, reserved a room in the AARC and hired a trainer to teach the self-defense classes.

Tickets for the classes will be offered for $8 in advance and $10 at the door for the first 40 students. The price covers an hour-long training session from a professional mixed martial arts artist who will teach basic self-defense moves.

Sophomore Macauley Garrett said she having a defense class available on campus will give students a chance to learn a useful skill.

“Self defense classes are a smart idea,” Garrett said. “It’s a basic skill everyone should know—especially me being a girl.”

Senior Alex Schwalbe, another one of the business partners, appreciates how the venture allows her to apply concepts discussed in class.

“We actually are doing a real business, and we are actually providing a service,” Schwalbe said. “It’s really real-world sort of situations, conflicts and resolutions.”

General 11 marketed its self-defense courses by word-of-mouth, fliers and selling tickets in the Anderson Student Center and Koch Commons. The Luann Dummer Center for Women and Morrison Hall staff also played a role in promoting the project, selling 17 tickets for the first class.

Senior Adam Porter, also one of the partners, said his main concern is executing the project.

“In order for it to be really good, everyone has to be on the same page and on the same wavelength for the same production level,” Porter said. “Things can go from good to extremely bad quickly depending on how things are being executed by people in certain roles.”

Rogers said the overall goal of this partnership is a learning tool.

“It’s a classroom activity to learn about the legal analysis of how to set up a class and go through the liability forms and all of those issues,” Rogers said. “The profit, if there is one, is just a benefit.”

Johnnay Leenay can be reached at leen1980@stthomas.edu.