By Greg ’22
While at Harvard-Westlake, you will find that being a student can mean many things for different people. From personal experience, one student might regard themselves as a sports champion, while another leads with the arts. Although student diversity can potentially sound daunting, it offers an incredible and uplifting workspace. Whatever your passions are, HW provides room for your academics, extracurriculars, and social life to flourish. Although these aspects most certainly allow for a successful high school experience, HW’s professional and entrepreneurial spirit lives at the core of its student body.
Having been a new 9th-grade student, I knew that entrepreneurship would drive my extracurricular prowess. One question, however, stopped me in my tracks: How does a 15-year-old with no prior working experience introduce themselves to the grand world of business. Surprisingly, HW had the answer.
The Bookstore
One night in 2018, as I sat around the dinner table with my brother, mother, and father, I began to think about different opportunities that could help me learn about business. Out of nowhere, and half through his sandwich, my father mentioned HW’s bookstore. He then declared that if there was a way for me to sell a product at the store, I could quickly and efficiently explore ground-level entrepreneurship. Quick to overlook this notion, I denied any possibility that the store would allow for a partnership. My quiet intuition, however, told me to email Ms. Cleveland, the middle school bookstore’s director.
Success!
Upon reaching out to Ms. Cleveland, her response was beyond supportive. Within a couple of weeks, I managed to start selling hair ties at the bookstore. Cheap and easy to manage, this product allowed me to learn several incredibly valuable resources in a short amount of time. A few include pricing, product placement, product identification, and advertising. Unbeknownst to me, this small but influential success would quite directly pave the road for my future endeavors.
Looking Back
As a current junior, I look back to my 9th-grade experience and couldn’t be more thankful for Ms. Cleveland and the bookstore. Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to explore my love for ventures. Today, I am able to work with doctors, business owners, filmmakers, and other professionals to further social equity and inclusion via entrepreneurship. Whether I’m working on my own project or someone else’s, I carry my 9th-grade bookstore learnings with me, always adding new ones to the toolbox.
So…where’s your bookstore?
As Walt Disney Once said, “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” Whether your bookstore is a tennis court or a dance studio, I invite you to explore every facet of your passion until all resources have been exhausted. Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask for help, but instead encourage conversation and grow from any failures. Lastly, never forget to be yourself and enjoy the ride.
