Project Innovation: A Metaphor for Success
On the rainy evening of November 6th, the warm lights of McNeill’s set the stage for an octet of exciting and ingenious presentations from the Entrepreneurship students. Judged by Conrad D, Paul K, Rover P, and Lisa H, the Entrepreneurship students delivered their presentations about the small businesses they’d created over the past month to compete for the ‘Most Innovative’ award.
Students had been instructed to, in groups of 3 or 4, create a small business using a grant of $100 and to generate a profit by selling products or performing services to Brentwood students and faculty. While the project was ongoing, students were seen across campus advertising and selling their products or services.
Placing third, the business ‘Sweet Bulk Cookies’ created by Ainose I, Karter P, Youto I, and Henry W, generated a hefty profit by using the factor of availability to their advantage. With the changes in regards to gym use during art blocks, many people switched to waking up early to work out at the gym, however, there is limited availability of food at that time. Karter stated, “There is limited access to food in the morning which makes our cookies a need, a must”. This method proved to be successful as ‘Sweet Bulk Cookies’ ultimately had one of the highest profits of all of the businesses.
In second place, ‘Brentonimon’, a Pokémon-inspired trading card game presented by Lauchlin M, Declan C, Michal P, and Jacob M, sought to create alluring collectible cards of student-favourite staff members with information about them. At a small price of $2.50 per pack of five, the cards are supposed to “bring students and teachers together” says Declan K, Rogers ‘26. An example of this would be when two students in the Privett kitchen, during the days leading up to the Midterm Break, were laughing about how amusing the card of Assistant Houseparent Ms Wolinsky was. They later showed her the card and conversed about it.
Brentwood Thrifts placed first among the eight businesses, ultimately winning the title ‘Most Innovative’. Composed of four members: Jack S, Aiyanna M, Preston H, and Georg R, Brentwood Thrifts - unlike most other thrift stores - is uniquely constituted by an online store with only a few in-person. This business choice allows it to be easily accessed by the students and teachers of Brentwood and also be a sustainable method without much waste; “We wanted our product to be sustainable and affordable” says Aiyanna M, Allard ‘25.
With businesses ranging from food to trading cards to cleaning robots, each business paved its way to success, whether it be making a large profit, or getting a good grade. It is undoubtedly certain that with Brentwood helping nurture and teach these students, they will become heavily successful in the near future.
Entrepreneurship Teacher Mr Justin MacDonald stated “Project Innovation was a unique opportunity for Entrepreneurship students to engage in teamwork. It helped develop their problem-solving, ideation, communication, and teamwork skills”.
Christian M, Privett ‘26