• St. John’s College student selected to attend Entrepreneurs in Action weekend

St. John’s College student selected to attend Entrepreneurs in Action weekend

A St. John’s College boy who was part of a team that developed an innovative ventilator, has earned a spot at this year’s Entrepreneurs in Action Weekend.

Year 12 student Dylan Wijaya says his passion for social enterprise has been ignited.

“This year something clicked. I’m not sure what it is but something changed. I don’t think I was competent enough before this year. I was unmotivated.”

He is one of only two Hawke’s Bay students among 84 from around the country to have been invited to the annual event in Wellington from September 11-13.

The event is hosted by the Young Enterprise Trust, a charity that works with thousands of students around New Zealand to develop skills that will help them in life and business after school.

Dylan had to explain why he wanted to attend EIA weekend, an example of a time when he overcame a challenge in a team setting, a business strength of his and a fun fact about himself.

While he hoped he would be chosen, he believed they would choose students who had been selected before.

“I was happy to be chosen but in disbelief. It was quite a shock for them to consider me to be one of their top students particularly given that many others have been doing it for multiple years.”

“I consider myself quite lucky.”

Year 12 St. John’s College student Dylan Wijaya

Students will be put into 12 teams of 7 students, and each team will be assigned to a company host who will be their cheerleaders and advisers helping teams navigate their way through two business challenges.

In his first year doing the YES programme, he and his team Project Pear have already created one product called PEAR 1 - a low-cost ventilator using pieces of wood, lego, and a power drill, in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Their efforts earnt them seed funding from the University of Waikato and EIT.

They are now working on another product, called Pear 2, which they hope to be in a position to announce soon.

He is contemplating studying business or engineering after high school but with several interests including the aforementioned two as well as enterprise work, maths and physics, he is still unsure.

St. John’s director of social enterprise and special projects and head of commerce David Ivory said Dylan is a focused and hardworking student – typical of the St. John’s College student body.

“We are all very excited about Dylan being selected – as he will come back and share the learnings from this event with his fellow PEAR Directors and share the St Johns College approach to enterprise: our social enterprise approach – its values and the expression of those in various products.”

Mr Ivory said while other schools run the YES scheme as part of a business studies class, St. John’s College is unique in the way that all work in this regard is completed in students own time and all profits are reinvested back in the community.

“Our focus at St. Johns College is on social enterprise which is a model which is consistently adopted year to year which reflects the values of the College.

“YES, and its opportunities and competition structure are great, but our key focus is solving real-time issues, environment concern, embracing technology and seeking full community engagement.”

Head of YES Elizabeth Pittman said: “Dylan demonstrated a passion for entrepreneurship and problem-solving in a business environment.

“He was excited by the skills he would gain and the connections he would make during the weekend.”

Pittman said EIA is about experiencing business at a fast pace, competing in business challenges, and meeting other YES students with a passion for enterprise.

“They will extend their leadership skills, fast track their understanding of global trade and hopefully have a blast along the way.”

About 4000 students are taking part in the YES programme around the country this year.

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