End of Session 2! – Children’s Business Fair!

 

“The first principle of entrepreneurship is service. Never forget that you are serving others…” – David Lamberti (Founder of Lamberti’s Ristorante and THA Entrepreneurship Expert)

It feels redundant saying “What an amazing week!” at the start of every weekly blog. Yet week by week, day by day, and moment by moment, the amazement and wonder never ceases at THA and continues augmenting.

Week 6 of Session 2 was no exception. Not only did we have even more riveting Socratic discussions and Launches, but we topped everything off with the a Children’s Business Fair! Here are some of the discussion topics from the week:

1) The Significance of Veterans Day

2) Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule for greatness: https://youtu.be/XS5EsTc_-2Q

3) The Psychology of Saying Sorry – what is the key component of an apology: expressing remorse, claiming responsibility, or fixing the problem?

4) Why do so many millionaire athletes go broke? What will you do to ensure you spend your money wisely?  (Clip from ESPNs 30 for 30)

5) What will make your Entrepreneurship Quest a success: how much money you made, how many customers you made happy, what you learned through E-ship challenges?

Warriors were also stupefied by the personal accounts and insightful advice from entrepreneur experts Mr. David Lamberti and Mr. Ajay Panchal. Taking something and adding plus value to it, building a team of people centered around your vision, serving others, being resilient in the face of negativity and opposition but also humble in order to continuously improve, these were just a few of the powerful messages they shared.

In addition to working diligently on core skills, art, PE, Sanskrit, and Writer’s Workshop, Warriors gathered more feedback on their products, practices their business pitches, and worked on their booth set up for the fair. It was awesome watching them rehearsing and providing very specific and pertinent feedback for one another.

Some studio pictures from the week:

 

It’s impossible to capture all of the incredible moments here and put them succinctly into words, but there’s no doubt the highlight of the week was the culmination of the Entrepreneurship Quest: The Children’s Business Fair on Saturday.

We had 30 entrepreneurs from the ages 5-12 launched their own businesses on Saturday! Many of them sold out and many of them learned their first lessons in making money, giving back, saving, and relinquishing debt. The Children’s Business was an experience that transcends words. Not only were the products, services, and business displays beyond what we could have ever imagined, but also everyone who came – from our young entrepreneurs and their parents to friends and shoppers (about 300 people total in attendance) all had a great time.  These young, empowered heroes took the first step in their Hero’s Journey. They learned the basics of starting their own businesses and showed us that they are more capable than we can ever imagine. They gained real life experience in how they can actually find their calling and change the world, the goal of Acton and The Humanist Academy.

Here is a link to a Facebook live video from the fair (polished video of the fair coming soon).

In case you missed Mark Cuban’s video to our Warriors.

Please enjoy these awesome pictures from the fair!

 

Session 2 – Week 5

“What we do in life, echoes in eternity…”

Our Entrepreneurship Expert, Mr. Arpit, who completed his MBA at Kellog and currently works for Pepsi shared this quote from Gladiator to our Warriors, along with crucial elements of his Hero’s Journey and practical feedback on prototypes that Warriors presented as they prepare for the Children’s Business Fair next Saturday.

It was quite an amazing week! As always they participated in some intense, thought-provoking Socratic discussions and some very engaging life-related challenges as they dove into their Core Skills and worked to complete quest challenges.

On Monday, after meditation and a Socratic discussion on courage, humility, and grit during morning launch, Warriors were off to work on their Core Skills, as they tried to start the week off strong. On Wednesday Warriors discusses what they would do years from now when they received their first career paycheck: would you spend most of it, save most of it, or somewhere in the middle? Why? On Thursday they engaged in a discussion on what would make this entrepreneurship quest successful: making a lot of money, making a lot of customers happy with your product, or just enjoying the Journey of being an entrepreneur? Friday morning Warriors led and participated in a phenomenal town hall in which they resolved various studio related issues.

They also continued working on their UN speeches and improving their drafts for writers workshop. Here’s their WW map for this session followed by a picture of their reflective writing prompt: 

Tuesday’s Nature Trip to the Dallas Arboretum was certainly a highlight of the week for most of our Warriors. They explored mechanical, electrical, light, thermal, and sound energy through various exhibits before exploring other areas including a gigantic tree house, awesome maze, and the Land of Oz pumpkin patch!

During quest this week they really dug deep and tried to finish all six of their E-Ship Quest Islands so they could start working on preparing signs for their booths and perfecting their sales pitches.

Can wait to see them open for business next week at the fair! Hope to see you there!

 

Session 2 – Week 4

“The problem is the solution…”

These were the words of wisdom shared to our THA Warriors by one of our Entrepreneurship Quest Experts, Ms. Adelaide, as she narrated the incredible journey of starting her own business.

As a mother of two, she struggled finding time for language study in between her responsibilities as a mom, and essentially turned the problem into the solution with her amazing product that promotes language learning through natural dialogue with your children. Feel free to check out her website here.  Warriors and guides alike listened in amazement as they heard Ms. Adelaide unravel the story of how her idea turned into this amazing international product and learned how she started with just $200 and turned it into this international company.

With every quest at THA, we make it a point to expose Warriors to real world experts.  We encourage experts to share key aspects of their Hero’s Journey with particular emphasis on the struggles and failures they overcame to get to where they are. Warriors are also always eager to gain valuable feedback and advice on their prototypes from the experts.

This week we had two amazing experts visit the studio. Our second expert was Mr. Manan, who not only pursued a biomedical engineering degree from a prestigious university, but also completed an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.  Warriors were blown away by his Hero’s Journey and also excited to hold and examine the product he works with in their hands – special lenses that help solve problems with cataracts.

Warriors were excited to receive very insightful feedback on their prototypes from the experts. They were given a wide range of advice, from the adjusting the pricing and enhancing the packaging of their products, to improving their marketing and thinking deeper about innovation. We are truly grateful to these experts for taking out time and inspiring our Warriors!

Two other major highlights this week:

• Warriors went through their very own assembly line process as they competed in teams with one another to create quality sandwiches that we then delivered to a shelter for those in need. We started with a scenario about being the owner of a sandwich shop with four employees and being asked for an emergency delivery of 100 sandwiches as fast as possible. They explored various production and management concepts like: would you have each team member make their own sandwiches or would you create an assembly line? Would you pay by the hour or by the sandwich? Then we actually split up into teams and made the scenario come to life!
• Warriors planned and executed their very own Halloween Party – including their self-created scavenger hunt and trick or treating! It didn’t happen without the usually arguing and heightened emotions, but it was so awesome to see what they created all on their own without adult interference.

For Quest: Warriors have only one E-ship Island left to complete as they prepare for the big Children’s Business Fair in two weeks: Competition and Substitute Island. They are rapidly making prototypes and gathering feedback to redesign and perfect their products.

For Writer’s Workshop – many of them have submitted their first drafts along with a self-evaluation. It is awesome to see what problems in the world they have researched and are trying to generate an awareness for.

They had a blast in Art this week as they worked on Halloween related Art. In PE they watched highlights of the World Series before completing their warm-ups and playing in their own THA World Series Championship!

Morning launches were such a blast as always! We had a Socratic discussion about whether you would create a safe and comfortable product for the fair that will give you a predictable amount of money vs. a risky product that could either do really well or completely flop, which option would you choose? We followed up this scenario with a discussion on failure and why we are generally so afraid to fail: is it because of our image, a lack of self confidence, or something else? We wrapped up the discussion with this inspiring video of famous failures!

We also discussed: the life and growth of a 400 lb pumpkin, how it is more important to seek meaning in life than happiness, inspired by positive psychologist Dr. Emily Esfahani Smith’s TED Talk, and a studio-life discussion on whether we should stay loyal to our friends when they break the contract and not ask for integrity points, or should we hold them accountable and not let it go.

Of course, these were just a few of the many amazing highlights that happen every week, every day, and every moment at THA. See you next week!