Double maths first thing on a Tuesday morning is many teenagers’ worst nightmare. Year 10’s file into class mentally preparing for the long hours ahead. We’ve all been there, trapped in a classroom against our will, praying for the bell. Thankfully this wasn’t one of those days. This all took a turn for the better when we were introduced to the owner of the Orca, entrepreneur and Raglan local Lisa James. Attitudes instantly changed when she introduced our class to opportunities for using math to make money.
Raglan Area School is working with SSEP (Secondary School Employer Partnership) which is a Trust to empower young people and help transition students from education to employment.
Over the span of 3 weeks our math class worked with Whaea Lisa, who talked to us about her challenges regarding maths, which most of us could relate to. Although this feeling was mutual she showed us how math could be our ‘friend’.
It was really interesting to see how much math we will use in everyday life as adults, even something as simple as putting a price on a burger. With help from Whaea Sandra, Matua Liam, Whaea TJ and Lisa we learnt how to calculate costs for a business and to add up all expenses to make sure it all gets paid and all staff do, as well.
Being an entrepreneur isn’t just about the expenses. It’s also about being able to sell and market a product. She showed us the importance of quality when marketing a product.
Ms James said “People want something they can’t just make at home” an important thing to consider as an entrepreneur. In this case the product was food that we were lucky enough to sample on our second to last session with Lisa. We were invited down to Orca where Lisa had the staff prepare us platters of delicious chips and freshly caught fish.
Overall we think it’s fair to say that our mindsets towards math have definitely improved and we have started to understand just how important it is.
It was such a privilege to talk to Lisa and have her come in and share her wisdom with us. We’re very grateful for these opportunities to meet and interact with locals and we’d like to thank Lisa for all her motivating words and hours of time and energy, also a big thank yo u to Whaea Sandra for being persistent and creative in the way she teaches us.
by Maria Grilli and Cuba Godward – Y10 students at RAS, August 2021
