On Tuesday night, four Year 9 teams showcased their entrepreneurial talents at the Just Start IT State Finals, a prestigious event that saw the top 10 teams selected from over 120 teams across 12 schools in Western Australia. Having four teams representing one school in the finals is a remarkable achievement, highlighting the students' hard work and innovative thinking. Two of teams secured 2nd and 3rd place at the event.
Our finalists were:
- Gap Pack: An app designed to help students find work while traveling around Australia during their gap year. Team members: Paul Suriano (Barlow), Seb Catalano (Kimberley), Xavier Hermann (Trinity).
- Frizz Whizz: A solution for managing frizzy hair. Team members: Marcella Maxwell (O'Reilly), Juliana Estafanos (Hannan).
- None Ya Business: An app focused on supporting students' mental health and wellbeing through journaling and outreach. Team members: Jesse Jacob (Kimberley), Ashleigh Stephen (O'Reilly), Lili Marchesani (Barlow), Molly Chapman (Carden).
- Your Potential: An app that creates hands-on challenges with kits for home-schooled students or those who want to build and discover in a game-like environment. Team members: Thomas Admiraal (Normandy), Brodie Cantrill (Thu Duc), James Ryan (Kimberley), Leo Cestrilli (Hannan).
Other schools with teams in the Top 10 included Corpus Christi, Lumen Christi, Como Secondary, Rossmoyne SHS, Servite College, and St Norbert's College.
The competition marked the culmination of two terms of dedicated work by Sacred Heart's Year 9 GATE students. Throughout the process, they learned how to create a startup business using the 'Lean Canvas' approach, gaining valuable real-life skills such as monetization, pivoting, identifying first adopters, and marketing.
At the State Final, the teams pitched their ideas to a panel of six judges and over 100 audience members from various industries. The experience provided an incredible opportunity for these young entrepreneurs, who are just 14 and 15 years old.
Sacred Heart College achieved outstanding success, securing both 2nd and 3rd places in the competition. Gap Pack (Paul Suriano, Seb Catalano and Xavier Hermann) took home 2nd place, while Frizz Whizz (Marcella Maxwell and Juliana Estafanos) claimed 3rd place.
Head of Gifted and Talented, Mrs Tanya Atherton, praised the students' efforts and expressed her gratitude to Lainey Weiser, Co-Creator of Just Start IT, and all those involved in providing this invaluable experience.
This accomplishment reflects the students' creativity, determination, and ability to apply their skills in a real-world context, setting the stage for future successes in their academic and professional endeavours.