Students get to grips with running a business

Te Kura o Tititea Mount Aspiring College (MAC) Year 8 students have created their own businesses to sell upcycled products.

Year 8 teacher Helen Best said students had developed the businesses as part of their Social Sciences studies with a focus on their rights as consumers and their responsibilities as producers.

“Students have come up with their product ideas, sourced sustainable and ethically produced materials, created their own business name and brand, and worked out their product pricing.

“This project promotes students’ creativity, business understanding, and ability to work collaboratively, and also raises their awareness of where what they buy comes from, and as producers, their responsibilities to their consumers.”

The products will be sold at the Mount Aspiring College Year 8 Sustainable Christmas Market from 4pm to 6pm in the Year 8 classrooms. Thursday, December 5.

Half the profits from the market will go to the SPCA, the local charity chosen by the students.

“There will be more than 40 stalls, featuring lots of great ideas for Christmas gifts, including beeswax wraps, candles, chopping boards, hair accessories, tote bags, and keyrings,” Helen said.

"Some students will also be selling food for people to take away on the night.”

Student Paige Lunny said she had learned a lot through the process of coming up with her business idea to create heat packs.

“I have learned that it is important to plan my product before trying to make it. We had some challenges while developing our product when we tried to create a prototype with no plan and it went horribly wrong but it has been really fun to create a business.”

Fellow student Elliot Lovelock said the process had made her more aware of what products are sustainable.

“I’ve discovered that some of the everyday products we use are not sustainable, such as some shampoos and soaps.

“This process has required us to be careful when thinking of ingredients for our products to make sure everything we use is sustainable.

“I’m hoping our sustainable soap sells well so we can contribute some of the money we make to charity.”

Cash is preferred as only limited EFTPOS facilities will be available at the event, Helen said.

Main image (supplied): Students Dean Coll, Beau Blanc, Harry Dickson and Hank Carnie with some of the wares for sale at the Mount Aspiring College Year 8 Sustainable Christmas Market.