Year 9 Impact Program 

Year 9 Impact Business Bootcamp

Lydia Allison and Kingsley Harjanta, Year 9 Fysh House Captains 

While the other year levels were on Camp, the Year 9s had the privilege of attending the Year 9 Impact Business Bootcamp. 

During this week, we focused on further developing our social enterprise projects aimed at addressing a societal issue. On the Wednesday and Thursday, we made our own way to Monash University Clayton, where we began the process of conceptualising and then narrowing down our options. 

With the help of the Monash team (Liz, Matt and Josh), we solidified what we wanted to do and how we could make an impact. We then began to prototype our ideas and learnt the best ways to pitch the business to others. We gained feedback from our peers and teachers, and finished the day off with some polishing and refinement of our ideas.

On Friday, we made our own way into the city and met at the Monash College Docklands. This day was full of eye-opening and insightful presentations from various social enterprises. These presentations, led by passionate workers, helped us to better understand the process of kick-starting a social business. 

'Who Gives a Crap' taught us about the importance of creative and unique marketing, while 'The Little Social' detailed how they reach out to the community and touch the lives of the disadvantaged throughout Melbourne. Finally, 'Sisterworks' provided us with a personal story from a Cambodian woman who travelled to Australia in order to find a place to build a better life for herself. 

We finished the day by splitting up into groups and visiting different social enterprises in and around the city to gain more knowledge on the work that they do. These included Good Cycles, Homie, Collingwood Childrens Farm, Crafted Culture Café, Queen Vic Market Purpose Precinct and QV Women’s Centre.

Overall, the Business Bootcamp was a valuable experience, teaching us a lot about how we can make an impact through creating a life-changing social enterprise.