In the first week of the holidays, Tom Spiby and I were given the opportunity to take a trip to Melbourne to grasp a better understanding of social entrepreneurship. After submitting our applications, we were interviewed by the board, which consisted of Mr Browning, Mr Borgas, Ms Robertson, and Mr Dave Stock from the Day Family Foundation.
The trip took place in the first week of the holidays to the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA), a group who advocate for young people on issues that will affect our future including climate change, inequality, sustainability and the rapidly changing economy.
Our work for the week involved reviewing their $20 Boss program, which has over 27 thousand participants in 500 schools over the last three years (and is run at St Peter’s College in Year 11 Business and Enterprise); writing some articles about our perspective on issues for their website which will appear in the coming months (as they love the see what younger people have to say about the world); and having career discussions with various staff where we learnt so much about their experiences. Did you know that young people today will have an average of 17 jobs in their lifetime?
We also sat down with a Saints old scholar, Alex Oppes (SHT ‘02), who is currently the Director of Impact Investing for Social Ventures Australia. He aims to grant the money needed for so many younger people to start their social entrepreneurship dreams. It was great to meet him and get his insight into these topics.
Tom and I both thoroughly enjoyed the trip. It was a great opportunity to delve deeper into the world of social entrepreneurship. We would like to thank the Day Family Foundation for funding the trip, and the Foundation for Young Australians and Alex for the time they dedicated to helping and giving us this opportunity to grow our knowledge further. Finally, we would like to thank Mr Borgas for coming along with us on the trip and supporting us along the way.
Jock Bache, Year 11 (S&A)