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Students hold business presentations

Business meetings, especially those that involve PowerPoints and thorough breakdowns of marketing strategies to potential investors, are usually confined to offices. However, last August 28, 2019, high school students from the Abba’s Orchard School Davao presented plans for running businesses at their school campus to potential investors in the comfort of their classrooms, explaining their businesses’ marketing strategies and projected profits to the invited individuals.

The presentations are school-mandated activities meant to teach students how to pitch business plans in order to secure sufficient capital. This isn’t locked to senior high students who study ABM; rather, all students from Grade 7 to Grade 12 are required to participate. This ensures that even younger students get to learn some of the fundamentals of running a business.

These businesses are mostly agriculture-based, as the Abba’s Orchard has space reserved in their school dedicated to raising different livestock, from chickens to pigs. Students proposed selling meat and eggs to the visitors, and explained how organic methods of farming would help increase the quality of their products. Foreseen expenses were then presented to the visitors. The presentations then concluded with requests for the visitors to invest in the businesses.

Teacher Ronie Mark Alan said that it’s essential for students to learn how to create viable business plans with minimal assistance from guides like him. “Failure to plan is planning for failure…We’re not the ones who should do (the planning). It’s part of the preparation, for when we get old.”

Gerard Pacheco was one of the student managers of the business Infinity Eggs, whose plan, as their business name suggests, is to sell eggs. He and his fellow classmates calculated the expenses of running the business and researched different breeds of egg-laying chickens. They then gathered their data into a Powerpoint presentation, which they showed to the visitors. Pacheco said that the presentations taught him what conduct to have with possible business partners. “(The presentations) help you to be more confident, but they also remind you to stay humble for your clients.”

These business presentations are but humble beginnings, indeed. By exposing students to these practices early on, the Abba’s Orchard School contributes to their growth, as the students now hold experience that may be valuable to their own businesses in the future.

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AOSD holds Entry Camp for students

On August 8 and 9, 2019, about 100 students from the Abba's Orchard School Davao (AOSD) convened at Malagos Garden Resort for the school's annual Entry Camp. The Entry Camp, held at the beginning of every school year, is when students engage in team-building activities and listen to spiritually uplifting lectures in a nature-filled area detached from city life. The camp gives students, who range from Grade 7 to Grade 12, time to mingle with each other, forming meaningful friendships that will help them obtain social cohesion---a set of characteristics that help a group function as one. Establishing friendly feelings with each other early on will help each student get through the rest of the school year.

Activities during the camp included lighthearted games such as group charades. For one of the main events, however, teachers read excerpts from the book "It's Not About Me" by Max Lucado and grouped students together to discuss and reflect on certain aspects of their lives. Not only did this encourage students to learn more about themselves as they pondered on their thoughts, it also provided opportunities for the students to understand each other better as they shared ideas. Kitkat Cabreros, Grade 7, said that the discussions were an eye-opening experience: "It helped me understand that I shouldn't be scared to approach anyone, because you don't understand what's going on in their head until you talk to them."

The camp was helpful to students new and old. Maria Andrea Garcia Soriano, Grade 10, had previously studied at AOSD but then transferred. She then returned this school year. "I got to know more people, since I came here after a while," she said. "(I liked) the charades and the bonfire; we were all together." Meanwhile, Caitlin Luperte, a Grade 12 student who is currently on her fifth and final year of studying at AOSD, has done similar activities in the past. Her outlook on them, however, remains positive. She cited that the team-building activities and the post-lecture discussions that were held helped break the ice between her and newer students. "I had a lot of fun getting to know the community," she says. "At the campfire, sitting together and singing random songs...It was silly, but it was funny. Maybe it's because it was my last (Entry Camp), but this year was a bit more special."

"Special" is a fitting word, as the camp was definitely a memorable experience for many students. The memories and relationships made will be of utmost importance as the school year progresses.