10-year milestone celebrated for social enterprise schools program

This year marked a significant event for a local school when ACRE (Australian Centre for Rural Entrepreneurship) celebrated a 10-year milestone with its Social Enterprise Schools program and a recent annual market. Beechworth’s St Joseph’s Primary School joined the program when it took off after the official launch of ACRE in 2016 by former Indi federal MP Cathy McGowan. The program has a 10-step learning journey for students where a social cause is identified that matters to them and they then develop, launch and run their own social enterprise. Products or services are traded at the market with profits invested into their chosen cause, creating meaningful community impact. St Joseph’s teacher Mark Butters said the school is proud to have been one of the pilot schools. “Participating schools and students seem to have grown in numbers with the level of products improving year-on-year,” he said. Mr Butters said the important program aligned with the Victorian humanities curriculum and developed unique skills in students. “Students take real pride in developing ideas, coming up with prototypes and trading on the day,” he said. “It’s great to see the students have success with a product and you can see the thinking taking place when something hasn't quite worked.” Mr Butters said all year 5 and 6 students at St Joseph’s took part this year with 30 students split into five groups. “The group designed their business names, decided on a charity and developed products,” he said. Businesses included ‘Emma’s with a bake sale raising funds for Animal Free Science Advocacy while ‘Voxl’ with designed 3D printed products for kids raised dollars for the Royal Children's Hospital. Others – ‘6 Pics’ – had a mobile photobooth to raise funds for the Royal Women's Hospital, ‘Zest Bros’ offered dehydrated citrus dipped in chocolate raising dollars for the Cancer Council while Beauty of Books had designed bookmarks raising money for the RSPCA. ACRE’s Jamie Meyer said young people developed essential skills in leadership, critical and creative thinking and employability in the program. Other skills included global citizenship and entrepreneurship, and building confidence and capability to turn ideas into action and create positive change in their communities. ACRE CEO and co-founder Matt Pfahlert said many local schools took part when the piloted the program began in the North-East with many staying the course. “Ten years on, we're incredibly proud to have reached more than 100,000 young people through our immersive and self-guided programs,” he said. “There's something especially meaningful about celebrating this milestone here where the journey began.” Mr Pfahlert said ACRE looked forward to the next decade of Social Enterprise Schools focusing on deepening the program’s impact and expanding its access. “The result is more young people who see themselves not just as job seekers, but job creators, and that kind of thinking in the next generation is critical for the future of rural communities,” he said. Organisers estimated around 200 people visited the 10-year anniversary market day held by Beechworth-based ACRE at the Old Beechworth Gaol. St Joseph’s Primary joined other local primary schools of Beechworth, Montessori, Whitfield District as well as Cathedral College Wangaratta and James Fallon High School Albury. Additional displays were showcased by St Joseph's College Echuca and Rochester Secondary College as well.

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