Young entrepreneurs from Westfield High School showed off their idea-turned-inventions at the Westfield Chamber of Commerce Innovation Luncheon on April 18th.
WHS educator John Moore teaches entrepreneurship and business at the high school. Mr. Moore sponsors the Innovation His competition, where students show off their prototypes and seek funding to take their inventions to the next step.
“The main focus is we don’t want people out there complaining,” Moore said. “We want kids to see problems as opportunities.”
Moore said students begin the school year with projects to generate ideas for how to solve problems that they and their families may face on a daily basis.
“They go through a process and say, here’s the solution. Can they create a business around it? So they do market research and ask themselves, is the problem really a problem outside of their world?” We’re going to make sure,” Moore said. “If so, they start thinking about how to get funding to actually solve this problem, and then they start the process of creating the problem. All the kids[who participate in the competition]We have prototypes, some of which are ready for release.”
As a result, classrooms are filled with inventions. Throughout the school year, students take ideas from paper to practical, including creating and implementing plans such as market research, cost breakdowns, revenue models, advertising and marketing budgets, and allocations for labor and inventory needs. We work on all aspects of turning your invention into a perfect prototype. They then make a pitch to potential investors, similar to the popular reality show “Shark Tank.”
This year’s competition saw 65 inventions entered by 150 entrepreneurship students. After his first three rounds in high school, the top 15 were presented at a chamber luncheon. This year’s inventions ranged from mobile his applications to dog vending machines and radio referee clickers.
Third-graders Nick Gerow and CJ Fox, and sophomore Ryan Cesare, installed a “refrigerator,” a straw-like tube that attaches to a refrigerator’s water dispenser to make it easier to fill water bottles. Bridge” and won the top prize of $1,000 in a contest.
“We’re all athletes, and we all go through this every day,” Gerow said. “We knew there was an easier way and set out to build it.”
The three said the class gave them the confidence to try something new.
“What I like most about class is the freedom to do whatever I want and be able to do things outside of the classroom that are useful in the real world,” Gerow said.
Fox said classes extend beyond the walls of the school.
“This is really beneficial for us in the future,” Fox said. “It’s not just about grades, it’s about helping us pursue what we want to do and what we want to be in the future.”
All three said they will likely continue developing the project next year and perhaps beyond.
“I loved all things business from a young age,” Cesare said. “I was always interested in the field of entrepreneurship as well, but I just took classes.”
Moore said the students collaborate with each other to make sure their ideas are realistic.
“One of the nice things about working with high school kids is that they’re very honest,” Moore said. “They’re all going to poke holes in each other’s products. It can be very frustrating at the beginning of the year…but eventually you realize that this is a problem that other people are hearing about and that needs to be solved.” I notice that this is a very open classroom, and their open conversations make it even better.”
Moore added that the class is designed to be fun and informative, while also building the skills needed for long-term success.
“We want to get them on the right track,” Moore said. “I make that clear on the first day of class. We’re here to set you up for success. Many students understand that they can do this, that it has a real-world impact. I think they go in with the idea that this could help them accomplish something.”
The top five groups will advance to the finals on May 8th at the WHS Auditorium, where they will pitch their inventions to investors and compete to develop their inventions for a $10,000 prize provided by various sponsors. Masu.
Business-savvy shamrocks
For students in John Moore’s Entrepreneurship class at Westfield High School, education becomes more than just time spent in the classroom.
Students who participated in the Westfield Chamber of Commerce Innovation Luncheon Contest on April 18 said the classroom is equal parts education and real-life experience.
Junior Ella McGrath’s invention is an app called LitMatch that recommends books based on your previous reading and genres you like. McGrath said the class helped her find new perspectives when solving problems.
“The entrepreneurship class gave us the ability to think outside the box and gave us new ideas. We bounced ideas off each other,” McGrath said. “Mr. Moore really gave us the opportunity to branch out from something out of this world and turn it into something real.”
Juniors Andrew Westra and Quinn Provost invented RefReel, a video system that allows users to view athletic events from the perspective of the field and on-court officials. They returned to the Innovation Luncheon with new tweaks and modifications to the same ideas they brought to the table last year.
“We’ve done a lot more research with the help of the wonderful staff and students here,” Westra said. “We made some plans, went to the (Distribution Education Club of America) and won third place in the innovation contest. We’re getting noticed and making a name for ourselves.
For more information about the WHS Extracurricular Entrepreneurship Club, please visit: tinyurl.com/yv3ct48b.
