Merici College Entrepreneurs: 'It's your Move' Program
Through the ACT Health and Education Department’s innovative ‘Entrepreneurs: It’s your Move’ curriculum program, Year 9 Merici College students are developing and implementing real-life health projects promoting healthy bones and sun safety.
As part of the Global Studies program, students learn problem solving through design thinking, an approach highly regarding in industry occupations particularly within STEM and entrepreneurial industries.
The elective offers an opportunity for students to imagine, ideate, plan and create work with a business mentor and launch an idea that can make a difference to Merici and the wider community.
This month Year 9 students launched their ‘Healthy Bones’ program. The program aims to raise an awareness of the important role healthy calcium-rich dairy foods can play in the development and maintenance of healthy bones and prevention of osteoporosis.
Students have been working with a range of organisations including Arthritis ACT, ACT Health, Coles and the Merici College Hospitality staff to get this program off the ground. The launch consisted of free slinky apples and homemade flavoured Milk to significantly reduce the sugar content and align their product with the schools Healthy Eating policy.
To promote Physical Activity students were given hand balls and links to numerous Health Bones recipes. The marketing team for this project have also put together a 5-minute promotional presentation for the students at Merici College.
Student Jasmyn Tozser felt that as Merici College is an all-girls school it was particularly important to raise awareness around healthy bones. Her group discovered that the majority of teenage girls at Merici College were not meeting the recommended guidelines of 3.5 serves of dairy intake per day. In fact, the most recent Australian National Children’s Nutrition Survey revealed that 77 per cent of girls aged 12 to 15 years old are not consuming the recommended daily requirement for calcium.
A small group of students from this class have also been working with David Wild from the Cancer Council and using their $1000 grant from ACT Health to create a sun smart project. The students have designed a hat and bag with a clip-on sunscreen that will be used for Physical Education classes.
The Merici Entrepreneurs are also in the process of installing several sunscreen pump and dump stations around the school. These stations have been carefully designed to include a mirror and a book rest. The class is looking forward to further exploring social enterprise and creating their own businesses next semester through the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA) $20 boss program.
