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# Hear the ECHO of cheers from Samohi talent in Shanghai
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/hear-the-echo-of-cheers-from-samohi-talent-in-shanghai/
- Published: 2006-06-14T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-25T00:15:28.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

Erik Burger, Anthony Campbell, Jasmine Coker, Carlton Fortenberry, Sabrina Marin, Douglas Monroy, Malik Moosa, Elizabeth Munoz and Christopher Peterson all share at least three things in common. All of them are students at Santa Monica High School, all are involved with Project ECHO and all are going to Shanghai soon.

Why? Because they are going to compete in the international entrepreneurship competition put on by the Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship (SAGE).

How did that come about? In large part, because of the involvement of an organization that goes by the name of Project ECHO (Entrepreneurial Concepts Hands On), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Santa Monica. Project ECHO is dedicated to assisting high school students, schools and teachers so they can enable students to develop business, financial and life skills. Project ECHO accomplishes that by helping to mentor students who start and operate on-campus businesses. Students at Samohi, for example, manage and operate two real on-campus businesses with guidance provided through a Project ECHO class that is recognized by the State Department of Education as a model practice, and that has been awarded the prestigious national Leavey Award for outstanding free enterprise programs. Beyond that, Project ECHO’s students also have completed extensive projects in the community with an eye toward service, environmental concerns and civic involvement. To accomplish all of that, Project ECHO uses a very diverse business advisory board and has eight active college mentors from Santa Monica College and other local universities.

Project ECHO is headed up by its program director Dion Michael Ramos. When he took the helm at Project ECHO barely seven months ago, the organization was involved with only two schools. Now, however, it has relationships with 11, and in another year he anticipates having relationships with as many as 20\. Ramos says, “My vision for the future of Project Echo is awesome — I see 100 schools someday — we are here to support business, success, leadership and financial literacy. Really, we should be in every high school.”

He started out himself as a young man pumping gas at his family’s gas station where he learned about customer service. He says he was taught to “think like an owner, not an employee,it’s a completely different mindset.”

And as the son of a mother who taught for years in public schools he says, “teaching is in my blood, I can’t help myself. Educating and mentoring youth is my passion.” And so he puts that passion to work with students like the ones at Samohi now going to Shanghai by helping them to compete against students from other schools and win at entrepreneurship competitions put on by SAGE.

SAGE’s mission is to advance ethical business practices, social responsibility, civic engagement and environmental awareness worldwide through high school level youth participation in entrepreneurship and community service. It was founded by California State University-Chico business professor Curt DeBerg. The students who are involved in the inter-school competitions put on by SAGE create businesses compatible to SAGE’s mission and then compete among themselves to see whose project most creatively demonstrates entrepreneurship which meets SAGE’s criteria. DeBerg says, “SAGE provides young people with an opportunity to engender a fundamental and positive change in their local communities around the world.” He compares the SAGE competitions to a sporting event.

“Just like when high school teams compete interscholastically on the sporting field, the SAGE structure allows high school teams to compete with other schools based on the creativity of their socially-responsible businesses,” he said.

So, how did the trip to Shanghai come about? Well, I am informed these Samohi students’ journey began with winning the state championship in a competition that set them against 10 other high schools. Their 15-minute PowerPoint presentation detailing and explaining their businesses and how those businesses comport with the ethical, social, civic and environmental criteria set up by SAGE evidently won the day. The next day the Samohi students went to the national competition that was held on May 26 in Brooklyn,NY.,where state champions from eight other states around the country competed. And guess what? The Samohi students won the nationals.

So, now they are going to Shanghai in July. There, they will be competing against teams that have won the SAGE national competitions of their respective countries, including China, the Philippines, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and the Ukraine. For those students it will truly be an honor and an experience that they will never forget. But that should also be true for the community of Santa Monica itself. The students are a credit to our community and we should be proud of them. Also, we should be aware of the efforts of Project ECHO that have made all of it possible. Truly, it appears to be an organization worthy of our community’s support. And, now just may be your opportunity to lend the assistance it needs to keep going to help the next generations that will follow in the years to come.

On Monday,June 26,Project ECHO is having a fundraiser to enable it to continue its efforts here and abroad. So, permit me to encourage you to think about it. Project ECHO may be something in our community that you should consider supporting in a very real way. If you want more information about Project ECHO or their upcoming fundraiser, I would encourage you to call Mr. Ramos at Project ECHO directly at (310) 434-2701 or By lending your support to their efforts, you may not only be helping the community we live in, but helping some students in the future whose lives will be changed forever for the better.

Finally, to students Burger, Campbell, Coker, Fortenberry, Marin, Monroy, Moosa, Munoz and Peterson: All we have to say is we’re proud of you, and however the competition in Shaghai turns out, in our minds you’re already the best. You go guys. (Cliff Nichols is an attorney practicing criminal defense/entertainment law in Santa Monica. He may be contacted at either (310) 917-1083, or www.cliffnicholslaw.com. You may join his blog at www.thedailystand.com.)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 14, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/061406.pdf?ref=smdp.com)