The illuminate Challenge

For the first time Henry Kendall high School is providing our students the opportunity to participate in the Illuminate Challenge; a weeklong alternative educational experience focussed in developing key work-life skills within an entrepreneurial framework.

From Monday 28th of July all of Year 9 will undertaking this unique program at school. Working in teams, students will be tasked with developing their understanding of, and seeking solutions to, a relevant community issue. The topic for our students will be based around community health.

During the week, students will be guided through and explore the process of addressing a real issue from a business perspective, growing in their skills and confidence within themselves throughout the journey.

Students will define the problem they are posed with, then creatively explore and refine possible solutions, develop business models for sustained community impact, as well as developing marketing materials and financials. At the end of the week each team will present their idea for investment, including a prototype of their solution, at a ceremony that parents and carers will be invited to.

Across the week, the student teams will go through six stages as they understand the problem they are faced with and develop unique ways to address this within a community context.

The Illuminate Challenge provides an opportunity for students to develop a core set of life skills - design thinking, entrepreneurship, social and ethical understanding, business and personal development, creativity, collaboration and communication. These skills cross over all aspects of our school curriculum and are vital to equip our students for a rapidly changing world.

This is the first time our school has provided such an experience for an entire year group, representing an engaging and challenging real world learning challenge.