Humanities and Social Sciences

Business Innovation Showcase Evening

The finale for the accelerated Stage 1 Business Innovation class involved a 2-minute pitch of their innovations, and a showcase of students’ business models, marketing, and promotional materials set up as ‘expo-style’ booths.

Students pitched to an audience of parents, peers and staff which included a panel of judges comprising Mr Chris Hannaford, Director of Business and Innovation at the City of Prospect, and Blackfriars staff; Mr Michael O’Brien and Ms Caitlin Graziano who have varied business experience.

Using a set of criteria that aligned with the performance standards for the subject, judges rated and scored the boys’ work. The judges visited the booth for each innovation to assess the materials produced by the students and to ask them questions about their business model. Then one-by-one the boys pitched their innovation following a set structure which had to be under 2-minutes.

The judges then came to the following consensus regarding the winners:

                         1st Prize – $300                 Step-by-Step energy (Harry Vu and Patrick Jones)

                         2nd Prize – $150                Wplus (Lewis Saint and Elexander Day)

                         3rd Prize – $50                   Pulverise (Ken Tran, Nhat (Ryan) Tran, Minh Thien Nguyen

Although there was a last-minute scramble to finalise everything for the evening, the standard of work produced by the boys was high and they should be very proud of their efforts. Congratulations to all the students for stepping outside their comfort zone to pitch before an audience.

Thanks to Ms Jacquie McEvoy, Mr Simon Cobiac and Mr David Ruggiero for attending, and special thanks to the judges, and to Ms Dina Hasaneen for time keeping. Thanks to Mr Carl Todman, Mr Jak Francis and Ms Linda Harvey for popping in to see the boys’ work. It was wonderful to see so many parents attend to support their sons, and I was delighted to see the level of interest from parents. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy lives to be there.

Ms Kathleen Johnson

CURRICULUM LEADER: HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES