Impact Boss 2-Day Workshop Summary @ Viewbank College on 10th - 11th August 2026.

Young Change Agents delivered an Impact Boss 2-Day Workshop Summary with 47 students from Viewbank College led by Nicole, Jasmine and Karishma from our team.

This workshop supported students from grades 8-9 to identify problems in their community and reframe them into social enterprise solutions using the design thinking process.

Some of the community problems identified included:

➡️ Fried chicken production can raise ethical concerns. How might we support local farmers in Australia?

➡️ The materials used in school uniforms are not well suited to different weather conditions or student comfort. How might we communicate with manufacturers to improve the quality and comfort of school uniforms?

➡️ Fast fashion creates significant waste and causes environmental damage. How might we reduce the negative environmental impact of fast fashion?

➡️ Sports clubs and facilities can be expensive and inaccessible for people living in rural or low-income areas. Transport and access can also be limited, while people experiencing disadvantage or living with disability may face additional barriers and stigma. How might we access more funding for sporting facilities and create more affordable sporting programs for people on low incomes?

➡️ Students need better ways to organise their lockers and learning materials. How might we help students learn more efficiently, reduce stress, and promote the use of eco-friendly materials?

➡️ There is a lack of food diversity and cultural representation in the community. How might we connect people with diverse cultures through food?

➡️ Students can struggle to feel motivated to complete their work and stay committed to learning. How might we encourage routine, organisation, and commitment to learning?➡️ School spaces can feel uninviting and industrial, with limited green space, which can negatively affect how students feel about coming to school. How might we promote and raise awareness of green spaces and their positive impact on the school community?

➡️ Some people in the Banyule and Viewbank community lack awareness of the importance of protecting the environment, contributing to littering that can harm plants and wildlife. How might we reduce littering through education and raise greater awareness of environmental issues?

Students worked in teams of 5-7 in this hackathon-style workshop to understand the design thinking stages of problem definition, ideation, validation, prototyping, and pitching.

Some of the social enterprise ideas they developed included:

💡 MCC (Multicultural Chicken): A pop-up food stand that sells different types of fried chicken from around the world. The enterprise celebrates different cultures through food while supporting Australian agriculture, with 20% of profits donated to local farmers.

💡 Met Gala Shirts: A redesigned school uniform shirt made to provide greater comfort and better quality than the existing uniform shirt. The enterprise would donate 30% of its profits to The Smith Family to support families experiencing poverty.

💡 Awsom: A safe and eco-friendly website where people can sell and trade their old clothes, helping extend the life of clothing and reduce the environmental impact of fast fashion. The enterprise would direct 50% towards recycling textiles and reducing the amount of clothing going to landfill.

💡 Wheely Cool Co.: A social enterprise that runs two-hour sporting sessions where people with disabilities can connect with sport. The enterprise also sells specialised wheelchair tyres for different activities, made from natural and recyclable materials.

💡 ELO: Eco-friendly locker organisers designed to help students stay organised, increase productivity, and reduce stress while encouraging the use of more sustainable materials.💡 All For Food: A multicultural night food festival that brings together people from different cultural backgrounds through food. The festival celebrates cultural diversity while raising money for a social cause, with 50% of profits donated to refugees.

💡 Focus Planner: An app designed to help students reduce procrastination, stay organised, and better manage their responsibilities, supporting stronger routines and commitment to learning.

💡 Project Spread Green: A social enterprise that creates nature packages for schools and homes to increase green spaces and encourage people to recognise the importance of nature.💡 Screensafe: An educational initiative that delivers in-person presentations and interactive sessions to raise awareness about gaming addiction and help educate the community.

Throughout the workshop, students were developing an entrepreneurial mindset, skillset and toolset, which was celebrated in their final pitch presentation and on the certificates they received at the end of the day. Here are some of the key skills they developed:

Team management
Community Mapping
Problem Definition
Ideation
Understanding the customer
Social Enterprise 101
Prototyping

Pitching

Next Phase: Student Showcase Event

The journey doesn't end here! Two standout teams from Viewbank College have been selected to represent their school at our Virtual Showcase on September 8th, 2026:

• Met Gala Shirts

• Awsome

These teams will pitch their social enterprise ideas alongside other top teams across Victoria for a chance to win a share of $3,000 in seed funding to help bring their ideas to life.

We’d like to extend a huge thank you to the educators at Viewbank College for organising students to take part in this experience.

Many of the young people we work with ask what's next after a Young Change Agents workshop and we have a range of opportunities for youth who continue with their ideas here: https://youngchangeagents.com/explore-your-next-move/

If you’d like to learn more about how Young Change Agents can support your school with other entrepreneurial learning programs, take a look via the link below.

Learn More About Young Change Agents

The Victorian Impact Boss program is a part of the Victorian Challenge & Enrichment series, a showcase dedicated to celebrating the achievements of high-ability students from across Victoria. I am proud to say it was a truly rewarding experience, as my classmates and I went through several interactive tasks that helped us to develop our own social enterprise business. By choosing a community and identifying its problems, we found ourselves developing new solutions and ideas into a business, and eventually to present a pitch to our audience. Two out of eight groups (one of them mine!) were selected to go onto the next round, and they'll be talking about their social enterprise in front of judges to get a chance at winning $1000 in seed funding . Personally, I found the program coordinators were extremely understanding and friendly, and they displayed different components of running a company. Throughout the two days, the participants in this program undeniably learnt valuable information that we would've otherwise not encountered. Overall, it was a genuinely positive experience (we got to skip school!), and given the option, no one would hesitate to experience it one more time.

Girisa Cataram, Viewbank College