The American Dream

Living the American dream is the ideal by which equality of opportunity is available to any American, allowing the highest aspirations and goals to be achieved. Michael B Levy is living this Dream.  A business graduate, President of KPS Distribution in Latham, and giving back as the Chair of the Business Department at La Salle Institute in Troy, NY.

As Business Department Chair, at La Salle Institute, I was hired for the sole purpose of building a business program.  For the last eight years I have been building the program to be the model for how a program should be created and operated.  The motto of the program is “Bringing the classroom into real world”.

Bringing the classroom into the real world is about offering real world opportunities to high school students beyond the part-time job.  Having students interacting with businesses and working on projects that have impact to the businesses allows students to experience what it takes to be successful.

The motto of the program is “Bringing the classroom into real world”.

I haven’t always been a teacher.  Prior to teaching I spent twenty-six years in the real world gaining experiences that would later help me in building the business program at La Salle.  This has truly been a labor of love since I am passionate over two things, business and teaching.  The business program is set up as modules and marketing is the main focus. From the time a student enters the business program they are immersed in business academics with a heavy concentration on putting what they learn into practical application.

When a student enters the business program and they choose the marketing path, they take a series of 5 courses in three years. The courses are:

Year 1:  

Foundations of Marketing – 1st semester Marketing Research – 2nd semester

Year 2: 

Social Media Marketing – 1st semester Fashion Marketing and Merchandising – 2nd semester

Year 3: 

Advanced Marketing – Full year course

From the time a student enters the business program they are immersed in real world projects.  The classes are divided up into business teams and each team works on a project for a company.  A team leader is chosen, for the project, and work is delegated.  The team leader is responsible for keeping the team on task and for communicating with the client.  Are all projects, that students work on, successful?  No, they are not.  The key thing to this, is the experience they gain and to overcome the idea that failure is bad. Advanced Marketing is an accelerated course that only the top marketing students get in. 

‘They are light years ahead of their contemporaries and are ready to be major players at the college/university b

usiness programs they attend.’

This is a project-based course where academics are done independently and the main focus for the students is on projects for the clients of the program.  This school year they have been focusing on helping to get KPS Distribution up and running.  The students designed the logo, built the e-commerce site, created all promotions, and managed the social media. When a student completes the marketing program at La Salle they have a portfolio of the work they have completed.

They are light years ahead of their contemporaries and are ready to be major players at the college/university business programs they attend. La Salle Institute was established in 1850 and is one of the oldest private schools for boys in the country.  In September of 2021 we will open our doors to girls and become a La Sallian co-educational school. Modern times calls for a break from tradition and a look forward to educating boys and girls in the La Sallian way.  Going co-ed, for the business program, brings new life into this program.  The business program looks forward to the co-ed atmosphere and hopes for renewed enthusiasm and differing perspectives as we move into the new year.