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!