Business students at AACC have sold $30,000 worth of rain barrels—containers used to collect and store water that drains from rooftops and would otherwise be wasted.

Since 2009, professor Shad Ewart has run a rain barrel business with his small business management students.

“Every single aspect of the business is as if we had started a rain barrel company outside of [school],” Ewart  said.

AACC’s course catalog describes the class, BPA 120, as a chance to “examine the principles and practices involved in managing a small business.”

Ewart credits his former student Tyler Wells as the inspiration for the hands-on approach to the class.

When Wells asked Ewart what kind of small business the class was going to start, the professor replied that the lessons were only theoretical.

“We kind of  just talk about starting a business,” Ewart said. “And then he said—which I think is the greatest thing a student ever said to me—“Mr. Ewart, that’s pretty stupid.’ And I said, ‘You know what? That is pretty stupid.’”

Since then, Ewart has taught approximately 250 students the ins and outs of making the rain barrels and selling them for $100 a piece.

By comparison, Amazon sells a standard 55-gallon rain barrel for $140.

Rain and runoff collected in rain barrels typically is used to water lawns and gardens.

Ewart said the project is self-supporting. Sales by students have reaped a profit of $12,000 so far.

The college has used some of the profits to raffle off tuition and textbooks for a business class, to buy more barrels and the equipment students need to convert them to rain collectors, and refreshments for events.