Back in May the Museum got a new employee – Bill Flynt. He’s heading up the W. W. “Foots” Clements Free Enterprise Institute here at the Museum. In this blog post, he will update you about some pretty nifty things we’ve got going on with the Institute.

Hi there, I’m Bill Flynt, the new Director of the W. W. “Foots” Clements Free Enterprise Institute at the Dr Pepper Museum. What you may not know is that Free Enterprise Education has always been at the heart of our institution as part of our Free Enterprise Institute. From the very beginning, the aim has been to not only collect and display soft drink artifacts, but also to use industry as a model to demonstrate the power of our economic system.

Over the years, a series of free enterprise programs were developed with the help of our friends at Baylor. If you haven’t tried our flagship program, “Advertising and Marketing: Kid’s Style” (AMKS) , here is what it is all about. It takes students from marketing with a town crier in the days of yesteryear through today’s hand held devices, taste testing and an explanation of supply and demand, topped off with an exercise in creating their own soft drink and figuring out how to bring it to market. This extensive program takes about five hours to complete and we always reward the classes with a refreshing Dr Pepper float.

If your students can’t take five hours to do the whole AMKS program, we offer the final section, “Create a Soft Drink” in a two hour class. This has been our most requested program through the years. We also offer a “Biz Smart” program that focuses attention on the ethics of business and helps students relate to what type of business they could start now based on their age and abilities.

Since the legislative session two years ago, the funds available to public schools have been tight and many districts don’t have the resources to transport students to the museum for our programs. To help offset the situation, we have created a trunk program we call “Classroom in a Cooler”. It is designed so that teachers can take it to their classroom and have fresh curriculum to offer without bussing the kids to the museum. We are just launching this new program and are looking forward to the feedback and the possible expansion into a full blown outreach program in the schools.

I am excited about our offerings and want every student to have the opportunity to participate in these programs. Over the summer we spent a lot of time revamping, modernizing and improving the curriculum. How about one of those special deals you see so often in retail? Managers Special!! If you book a tour during September, (even if it is for later in the year) we will discount the standard fee per person by $2.00. That saves 20% on the AMKS program and 33% on Create a Soft Drink and you don’t even need a coupon.

To book a program, (10 to 30 people please) contact Jessica at 254-757-1024 X 129 or jessica@drpeppermuseum.com. She can make all the arrangements for you to experience these interesting programs. If you have any comments or would like to see something particular in the way of Free Enterprise Education, please call me at 254-757-1034 X 153.

While the original programs were designed for students from third to sixth grade, people of all ages have enjoyed them and learned more about our basic economic system. By the fall of 2014, we intend to have a whole new program of curriculum ready aimed at Middle School students and by the fall of 2015 a new High School curriculum is due to be unveiled. We want to be the premier source for free enterprise education. I will keep you up to date on new developments as they happen.

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The Dr Pepper Museum is located at 300 S. 5th Street in downtown Waco. The Museum is open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM and Sunday from Noon until 5:00 PM, last ticket sold at 4:15. For more information, visit us on the web at drpeppermuseum.com. To purchase your own
Dr Pepper memorabilia, visit the Museum’s online gift shop.