Exciting opportunities for high school students
The Macquarie University Incubator and Sydney-based social enterprise Young Wisdom have teamed up to bring you – and your supporters – a range of programs and events designed to increase secondary students’ chances of success.
We intend to build a thriving ecosystem of young startup founders and highly engaged supporters who can buy from, invest in, or otherwise support our student-led startups.
The following in-person events are a fantastic way to get to know the growing community behind the secondary student program.
Student pitch night
We host a pitch night for active startup founders based in high schools around Sydney and NSW.
Six to ten student-led startups will have the opportunity to pitch their startups to an audience on the night.
About the pitch night
If you are selected to pitch in the final, you will be contacted by email by the team. You will then:
- receive pitch coaching
- participate in a live question and answer session from a panel of judges
- pitch in the Macquarie University Incubator space, that has been purpose built for startup and scaleup founders
- have the opportunity to win prizes and support.
This event is designed to provide you with a practical experience in pitching your idea to a live and online audience. You’ll learn:
- effective and persuasive communication skills
- presenting skills
- how to answer questions on the spot.
Term 1 pitch night 2024
See photos from our most recent secondary student pitch night.
Full-day bootcamp excursions
An on-campus face-to-face program for teachers to bring students to Macquarie University for a full day excursion.
During our highly sought-after bootcamps, groups of six students and accompanying teachers from up to six schools have the opportunity to spend an entire day at the spectacular Incubator for an entrepreneurial skills- and confidence-building program.
Key details
- Cost: free
- Capacity: up to 36 students
- Timing: one day
In thought-provoking discussions and workshops, you’ll gain an understanding of the skills, people, frameworks and resources leveraged by innovators and entrepreneurs to effect positive, sustainable change in the world.
Participants will build entrepreneurial skills and self-efficacy through:
- empathising with one another
- identifying problems worth solving
- design solutions worth testing
- persuasively pitching new ideas.
Ideas challenge program
All NSW high schoolers are welcome to apply. You don’t need to think of yourself as a ‘creative’ or an ‘entrepreneur’ – just bring an idea for how to solve a real-world problem and we’ll help you explore how you might be able to take it further.
Participants need to have an idea to apply for the program, but it’s alright if you are not sure of it; we can help you work on it.
Key details
- Cost: free
- Capacity: uncapped
- Timing: approximately five weeks, during a school term
In the program’s three modules, you’ll learn about:
- the processes of planning to take your idea to the next stage
- prototyping to bring your idea to life
- pitching your idea, and how to gain funding and other support.
We will provide you with online resources and live online sessions focused on the area of learning and an assessment task where you can be awarded a certification for your work.
The online live sessions will provide you with the opportunity to:
- learn from experts in the field
- join a cohort of likeminded students
- gain new skills and certification from the team at Macquarie University Incubator and Young Wisdom.
You can choose to receive extra feedback on your work from our team during the program. You can also email our team to receive more tailored tips and connections.
Lessons will be recorded so you can refer back to materials covered or watch in their own time.
Note: You will need to provide parental permission via email that you can:
- attend the calls with your camera on
- be livestreamed
- be recorded for use in future educational and promotional video edits.
Teacher roundtable
Each term we bring together teachers from public, private and independent schools for roundtable discussions focused on how best to identify, engage and responsibility support high school entrepreneurs embarking on new startup ventures.
We also want to develop capabilities in creative thinking and problem solving techniques in Australian secondary students.
Many schools, networks and associations are exploring creative and entrepreneurial skills-building in their own ways, which is why opportunities for professional knowledge exchange are so important to teachers looking to extend their practice to supporting innovators and entrepreneurs within their own school communities.
We greatly appreciate the opportunity to host and facilitate these discussions as we continuously update our programs, events and free resources to be as useful as possible to both students and teachers alike.
This is a key part of our mission to:
- support genuine student entrepreneurialism at scale
- develop key capabilities in creative thinking and problem solving.
Teachers have the trust and respect of their students, as well as the most day-to-day access to them. Without teachers closely involved in the design, delivery and promotion of our various programs, we can’t imagine making a genuine dent in the current access problem faced by many schools and students.