George Freeman School hosts Grade 8 entrepreneurship night

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Grade 8 students at George Freeman School participated in an entrepreneurship market and movie night at the school, Jan. 30, which served as the culmination of their semester-long course.

“We host a family night for our school community every year, and we have a Grade 8 entrepreneurship class in our school so they start little businesses and they are running their market that night,” said Jill McDonald, associate principal at George Freeman School. “Our eco club is running a thrift shop of Falcons gear – so school logoed hoodies and t-shirts and stuff that kids have outgrown, they have donated them to the thrift shop and will be resold at a pretty great price.”

An assortment of movies was shown in eight classrooms for families at the conclusion of the evening.

McDonald described the event as something students have been looking forward to, being an opportunity to spend time with their friends and families, and be at the school in a more relaxed manner than normal. 

“The entrepreneurship market is something the students had been working towards all semester long. They have done business plans and marketing and they did a Dragon’s Den style pitch to local businesses to get investors so they had some cashflow to get their businesses going,” said McDonald. “The movie night portion of it is an event that our Falcon Council – so our student leaders, they put that part of the event on.”

Each group of students, or each business, was responsible for selecting a local charity for which they wanted the proceeds of their endeavor to go towards supporting. Each student group has selected a different local charity.

These included the Strathmore Overnight Shelter, the Wheatland County Food Bank, the Strathmore Legion, Strathmore Salvation, STAND Against Sexual Assault, and True North. 

“It is nice that they get to choose something that is personal to them that impacts themselves or their families in some way, so that is a nice thing for them to be able to do,” said McDonald. 

Grade 9 students at George Freeman conduct a similar activity for their entrepreneurship class, which was held during the school’s Christmas festival. 

For the Grade 8s, the end of January marks precisely the end of the school semester, with a day off following the event so students have a chance to relax after a long night.

Things that were sold at the Jan. 30 market included but were not limited to, beef jerky, smokies and hot dogs, candied popcorn, cotton candy and lemonade, and pumpkin rolls.