Somerset Celebration of Entrepreneurship 2022

In 2022, the Somerset Celebration of Entrepreneurship cemented itself as a key event in the College calendar. The two-day festival is supported by a programme of year-long activities including the Fireside Chat Series, the Parent Entrepreneurship Program and the regular class visits conducted by our Entrepreneur in Residence, Baden U’Ren. These initiatives and the Festival itself are made possible by the tireless work of the Entrepreneurship Committee. I thank them for their continued passion and support. I particularly thank our Headmaster, Mr Craig Bassingthwaighte for his leadership of all our entrepreneurial initiatives.

The Celebration of Entrepreneurship is about igniting futures through student led activations. These activations include:

• The Year 9 Student Food stalls proudly sponsored by McGrath Real Estate
• The Cordner Advisory Pitch Competition
• The Year6preneur Experience
• Students interviewing our guest entrepreneurs on stage in almost every session
• Students producing of the Festival live stream
• Students leading the sound, lighting and technology delivered throughout the Festival
• Students engaging in cake decorating courses in the Junior School

The aim of each of these opportunities is to facilitate students bringing together the skills learnt in Mathematics, Science, English, Design, the Arts and Humanities to solve real problems in our community.

Highlights of the 2022 Somerset Celebration of Entrepreneurship Festival include:

• Our Year 6 students selling their homemade products at the Year6preneur Precinct. 
• Our Year 9 students operating market stalls selling food and drink to satisfy the needs of the hungry crowd. Thank you to McGrath Real Estate for making this initiative possible. 
• The Synergies Creative Minds Exhibition. This exhibition was such a wonderful opportunity for our Senior School students to display their creative talents. Thanks to the AIZER group for their support of Synergies in 2022. 
• Our student entrepreneurs Lily Peters, Kartier Marjanovic, Luis Pearse, Francis Ng, Maddie Gallagher, Aidan Brinkworth, Heath Walker and Savannah Walker for sharing their own entrepreneurial journeys with Junior School students at the My Pet PA Student Entrepreneur Precinct.
• Our Pre-Prep students for embracing their session with Steve Haslam from Quoll HQ. The Cordner Advisory Pitch Competition. The winners of the $5000 first prize were Alexis Butler and Josie Hanson with their idea.

In summary, the benefits of the Somerset Celebration of Entrepreneurship for our students are best described by a visitor to the Festival:

“I would like to say how impressed I was with the Year 9 student’s stalls this year. I felt that they all took it very seriously and were focussed on running their stall just like a commercial entity. They were very polite, respectful, and all were hard working in maintaining cleanliness, safety and good business ethics. I was also very impressed with their stall layouts this year – they were well-planned and well presented. I can see the bar being raised and am very much looking forward to what they can produce next year. I can see they’re learning the difference between excellent and poor customer service. Kudos to all the teachers – job well done. I must say the Loaded Donuts were decadent, delicious and very well priced and I shouldn’t have been eating them, but I couldn’t resist!!!!"

Thank you to the Somerset community for embracing the Celebration of Entrepreneurship and the wonderful opportunities it provides for our students.