$20 Boss National Winner!
Run by the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA), the $20 Boss program provides $20 of real money to students to build a business – helping them to learn, identify and talk about the skills they are building. It is the largest entrepreneurship program in Australia; with over 50,000 students participating since 2015.
This year was the second time that the JFSC Year 7 Enrichment program students participated in $20 Boss. When the projects were underway, Teacher Joh Gatti nominated four of the businesses into the State and Territory Awards for excellence. Two of the nominated projects by students Hazen Toby and Jorjino Di Giulio's made it into the finals. The Unleashed Awards "celebrate incredible initiatives, led by young people, addressing issues big and small, whether it's in the local community or broader society".
FYA paid for flights and accommodation for Hazen, Jorjino (each with a guardian), Joh Gatti and Michelle Wray to Melbourne to attend the awards ceremony held on Thursday 14 November 2019. In the category of National $20 Boss Enterprise of the Year Award Junior: Years 5 – 8 there were two projects who were Highly Commended (winning $500 each) and one Winner (winning $1000). The College is very proud to announce that Jorjino Di Giulio was High Commended and Hazen Toby was the winner! Please find below FYA's description of the Winning and High Commendation entries:
Winner
Beanie Hats – John Forrest Secondary College, WA
Hazen from John Forrest Secondary College had moved far from his Country in rural WA to attend school in Perth, which led to feelings of homesickness. That's why he started up his business, Beanie Hats, which aimed to fill a gap in the market by providing sports-related beanies. But Beanie Hats also allowed customers to connect and feel pride in their culture through the product, no matter how far from Country they are. The beanies are handmade using polar fleece and jersey cotton and feature animal track designs in the Aboriginal flag colours—red, yellow and black. Beanie Hats plans to continue growing next year and use profits to create extra beanies to send back to Hazen's community, keeping them warm during the cold desert winter.
High Commendations
Blue DC – John Forrest Secondary College, WA
Blue DC founder, Jorjino from John Forrest Secondary College in WA, runs drawing lessons for peers who want to improve their animation and cartoon creation skills using pencil and ink on paper. Blue DC aims to combat boredom during break-times by giving customers a place to go and learn a new skill. Customers are able to take home their own handmade, recycled, drawing book at the end of their class. Jorjino hopes that in the future people will continue to enjoy his Blue DC lessons and continue to practice what they've learnt from him. He hopes that this business will help people understand that we're capable of more than we might think.
Congratulations to Hazen and Jorjino on their projects and Joh Gatti (Teacher) and Michelle Wray (EA) on their wonderful support of these kids.
