"Because children are far more capable than we can ever imagine..."
- Laura Sandefer
Where can you find creativity, communication, interpersonal development, financial planning, collaboration, leadership, mathematics, art, science, and everything amazing about human ingenuity on full display?
Look no further than the Acton Children's Business Fair!
We just wrapped up our 5th Annual CBF on April 15th at The Sound, Cypress Waters, a little over a week ago, and as usual, it went above and beyond expectations. We had about 75 businesses on display and around 150 Entrepreneurs from the ages of 5-15 selling and interacting with hundreds of customers.
But what made it truly amazing is how the adults let their children shine. The Acton model prides itself on trusting children to drive their learning and getting the adults out of the way. No, you won't find a "mother-made science fair-project" type of booth here. Children as young as 5 were pitching their products, interacting with customers, making sales, running their own businesses, and having a lot of fun!
One of the best parts of the CBF is actually what happened behind the scenes. Several parents shared how amazing it was to see how hard their child was working, how focused and in flow they were, how they were creating business plans, doing math, and staying up late at night to work on their products, and without any imposing from their parents! Isn't this infinitely better than staying up late to cram for an exam, memorizing and regurgitating content which will be forgotten in just a few days?!
One stroll around the 75+ booths and you couldn't help but leave with a smile on your face, and a feeling of joy, even if you used up all your money! The goal of the CBF is not about what you got, how much profit you made, or if you won an award... every single business owner won because they showed up. While I can't claim to have ever been in heaven, the energy, ingenuity, joyfulness and magic of the environment absolutely made me think that this is what heaven must feel like.
Shoutouts:
Thank you to all the courageous children who showed up with such amazing businesses! (See each one of them below in the gallery.)
Thank you to the parents who did their best to step out of the way but also provided support in things like driving to the store (since none of the business owners can drive!). One of the hardest things to do as a parent is providing support without fostering dependence and allowing your child to fail.
Thank you to the parent volunteers, THA staff, and the owners and founders of Acton Academy Lakewood, Vine Academy, and Acton Academy McKinney who co-hosted the event, showed up early, stayed late and helped make this a success. If you loved what you saw and are looking for a school that echoes what you experienced at the CBF, definitely look for one of these Acton schools in your area!
Thank you to the judges: Rob, Avni, Hussain, Salah, Lucy, Usha, Sejal, Nipun, and Janak for taking out time from your busy schedules to support these awesome children.
Special thank you to Lucy Billingsley for providing such an awesome venue and serving as an honorary judge for us!
Hope for the Future
As we started wrapping things up, a parent came over to me and shared: "You know with all the depressing news and all the issues going on in the world, you come here and you just forget all of that. You see all these amazing children and... it just gives me hope for the future."
Hope to see you all back next year!