Students lend more than a helping hand

Chippewa Secondary School
News Release

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Grade 10 Business Students at Chippewa Secondary School are getting involved with Kiva, the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website. The objective is to raise money, and then lend that money, through Kiva, to impoverished communities world-wide. Kiva’s mission “is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty”. By participating, students are gaining practical experience about entrepreneurship, finance, international business and social responsibility all in one project.

The students will learn business and fundraising skills through the promotion of fund raising events. Some students are planning garage sales, while others are selling bake sale and food items at school. Roslyn Prisco, the advising Business teacher at Chippewa is amazed at how quickly the students showed initiative. “Students got together right away to discuss their ideas and will be selling items at lunch this week to raise money” she said.

This exercise is an excellent precursor to Chippewa’s Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) Business program. The SHSM program prepares students for post-secondary education or workplace destinations. By providing opportunities to participate in real-world activities, business competitions, and involvement in organizations such as Ontario Business Educators Association (OBEA) and Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) students gain real life work experience. The program also includes a cooperative education work placement in the students chosen field along with certification training. Students can choose to focus their studies in subjects such as Entrepreneurship, International Business, Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Leadership, Information and Communication Technology or Economics.

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