Students compete in college entrepreneurship contest

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Local elementary schoolers pitched their best social entrepreneurship ideas recently at Lambton College.

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Among them, a team from St. Michael’s school in Bright’s Grove plans to make seed-packed, pollinator-attracting flower bombs with proceeds from a three-on-three basketball tournament.

“We’re going to sell them throughout the community,” said Ivy Howell, who’s on the Ballin’ for a Better Tomorrow team with Leah Griffiths, Gia Cantalini, Ella Medeiros, and Julia Yarkovsky.

Kavea Pinnock from Hanna Memorial school, meanwhile, recently raised $283 from a bake sale for supplies for a planned June 3 Canatara Beach cleanup.

And pupils from the P.E. McGibbon Dental Heroes team are filling dental pantries in schools with donated supplies, and working with local dental professionals to help raise dental health awareness among their peers.

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The teams were among 22 finalists in the annual One Future program via Enactus Lambton.

Started around 2019, and relaunched after the COVID-19 pandemic, the initiative sees students in the college’s social justice and entrepreneurship program visit Grade 7 and 8 classrooms in Sarnia-Lambton to encourage youngsters to make positive change, said faculty adviser Matt Abercrombie.

Pupils then come up with projects and present them to Enactus Lambton judges, he said.

“It really ranges on what the students are passionate about, and they either raise money or start a business to start supporting those causes,” Abercrombie said.

The program has grown every year since 2023. This year, Enactus Lambton students visited 11 classrooms, teaching 274 pupils over 10 weeks about how to engage with social entrepreneurship, he said.

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It’s an introduction of sorts to the regional and national competitions Enactus Lambton students take on, he said. “We thought what a great idea to use that same model . . . and have our elementary school students start to learn about this a little bit earlier.”

Hopes are in a few years, some might join the Enactus Lambton program, he said, noting elementary school projects this year raised more than $7,600 for local causes.

The program has had a positive effect on pupils, said Matt Sanders, experiential learning co-ordinator at the Lambton Kent District school board.

“To give this opportunity to make a real difference in the world by acting on what they’re seeing, I think it’s really just magic, honestly,” he said.

Bluewater Power donated $1,000 for this year’s top two teams to continue their work, Abercrombie said, with Dental Heroes taking the $750 grand prize, and Ballin’ for a Better Tomorrow the $250 runners-up.

St. Michael’s Grade 8 teacher Kelli Houle called One Future a leadership and social responsibility-fostering initiative preparing students for future success.

“This project inspires my students to become proactive change makers,” she said.

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