Commerce

COMMERCE

...the real business of learning

Welcome to the Commerce Department at James Hargest College.

The Commerce Department is made up of a variety of exciting and challenging subjects including Information Technology (Years 9-13), Economics (Years 11-13), Accounting (Year 11-13), Business Education (Year 12-13) and Computer Programming (Year 12-13).  These subjects equip students to gain a solid understanding of the business world and to give them the skills required to be competitive in whatever career path they may choose. 

The Commerce Department has had a busy and rewarding year with students taking up exciting opportunities and achieving success in a wide range of areas.

We have recently established a new vision for our students as follows.

James Hargest College Commerce students will be:

• Confident users of ICT
• Informed and skilful decision makers
• Enterprising and resourceful
• Contributors to their communities

This vision reflects not only the spirit of the new curriculum, but also the strengths of our department's subjects.

 NZCETA Southland Top Scholars 2009

Michael McColl (level 1 Economics)

Toni-Marie Pasco (level 1 Information Management)

Jeremy O’Connor (level 1 Accounting)

Sarah Jones (level 2 Accounting)

Emma Douma (nominated for level 2 Economics).

Absent: Daniel Redmond (level 3 Economics)

NZCETA Top Scholar Awards

The Southland branch of the NZ Commerce and Economics Teachers' Association in association with accountancy firm WHK, presents awards annually to the top achieving Southland students for external NCEA exams. WHK provided cash prizes to the students.

Hargest winners were:

Loren Baxter                Level 1 Information Technology

Sarah Jones                  Level 1 Accounting

Aliesha Pile                   Level 3 Accounting

PWC NZ Economics Competition

Year 12 and 13 Economics students participated in this competition with the following excellent results:

Daniel Redmond                       Year 13            High Distinction

Ryan Lester                              Year 13            High Distinction

Nic Popham                             Year 13            Distinction

Iftekhar Khan                           Year 13            Distinction

Haydon Cunninghame               Year 13            Distinction

Emma Douma                           Year 12            Distinction

Anna Goble                              Year 12            Distinction

Terry Son                                 Year 12            Distinction

Ari Luecker                              Year 12            Distinction

ICAS Competition - Computing

Andrew Bester             Year 10            Distinction

University Economics

Daniel Redmond and Ryan Lester have completed a stage one university paper in Economics through Lincoln University.

Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme

The Year 12 and 13 Business Education class again formed Young Enterprise companies as part of their business learning. This year two YES companies were formed with the healthy rivalry spurring them on to success.

GLASS ACT

Our Glasses are Green. This tag line was used to great effect to promote the environmental focus of our company and raise the profile of our product. Glass Act is a Young Enterprise company with nine Year 12 and 13 members.  We have produced over 200 recycled drinking glasses.  These glasses are all hand made by our hard working team from recycled glass bottles.  After deciding on a product, Glass Act then developed a Business Plan.  At the mid year awards we were very happy with our success as we won the award for Most Environmentally Friendly Product, (sponsored by Environment Southland) and the award for the Best Oral Presentation of the Business Plan, (sponsored by Chamber of Commerce).  We were very happy with this result and this motivated us to continue our success.  One of the main challenges has been maintaining production to keep up with all of our orders. We had a fair few difficulties involving problems with belt sanders and retrieving bottles but worked hard and kept at it to overcome them eventually.  Another challenge was the production of our Annual Report where we had to document all of our activities for the year. After lots of time and effort it was finally finished.  At the end of year awards we were happy with our result of winning an award for the Most Innovative Design, (sponsored by Design Base). 

During the year we have learnt a lot of important skills that we will take with us to use in later life.  Some of these skills include managing our time to meet deadlines, planning skills and the basics of running a successful business.  Every team member of Glass Act has enjoyed the challenges of Young Enterprise and receiving the rewards for their hard work.

BANDING 2GETHA
Banding 2getha is a Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) company, formed by year 12 and 13 students along with some business-enthusiastic international students. Our company was formed out of a desire to combat racism. This issue came to prominence recently when some Indian SIT students were harassed in the central city. We decided to take action and hence Banding 2getha was formed. We have produced black and white silicon wristbands with the message "Let's band 2getha NZ" debossed into them. While running our company and selling our product to make a return for our shareholders, we also had to participate in events with the other YES companies around Southland. The first one on the agenda was the Oral Business Plan Presentation evening, where we had to give a 5 minute presentation on our business and answer questions from the judges - similar to the Dragons Den. Other awards were given out at that evening and we won the Craigs Design and Print award and got 500 free business cards. We had our product launch in early Term 3; this was a concert in the school hall with Hargest band, Vulcan, playing. Another exciting opportunity was the Trade Fair in August outside the Warehouse, where we were given the day to sell our product to the public. This was a hugely beneficial day for us where we made many sales. In late September we were to produce an annual report of our company's performance for the year.  In early October, Banding 2getha went to Dunedin to sell wristbands for a day, this was a great opportunity for our company to spread word about our product and the message further afield. It also provided a great team bonding exercise. At our End of Year Awards, Banding 2getha won the "Warehouse" Best Trade Stand Award and was placed 2^nd in the Best Annual Report. Managing Director, Anna Goble, also received Southland Young Enterpriser of the Year and got the highest mark in Southland for the Young Enterprise Exam. All in all, Business Education is a great subject to take and offers so many opportunities. You learn many business skills and decision making skills that are useful for the future. Who knows, you may be the next Bill Gates!

INTERNATIONAL TRADE WEEKEND - Anna Goble Year 12

I was selected as one of two Southland Representatives to the International Trade Weekend. On the 20^th June, I embarked on a journey to Auckland to compete with 78 other business-minded students in a 4-day long event composed of two different international business challenges; the FedEx Express International Trade Challenge, and the Global Enterprise Challenge - which 15 other countries, from 5 different. Saturday night was the formal opening ceremony. I was a member of the ASB team and after mingling with my team members and meeting John Key we entered the lecture theatre for the Official Opening Ceremony.

Sunday was the first day of actual work. We met at the Lecture Theatre for the Opening and Announcement of the FedEx International Trade Challenge. We had to design a product that was able to be exported from New Zealand. Our ASB team designed an iPhone application called E.T.A (Estimated Time of Arrival). We had from 11am to 6pm to design a prototype, business plan, powerpoint (of no more than 4 slides) and oral business presentation which we then presented to the other teams, judges and parents. That night, the Global Enterprise Challenge was announced from Scotland via webstream. "To produce a working model of an innovative product or service that will reduce food waste in your country, and help to alleviate starvation in one of the world's poorest countries." Our company Waste Not Want Not planned to reduce food wastage in New Zealand by offering a food bin collection service in urban areas and of Foodstuffs stores. This bio waste will be used to produce electricity from natural gas that is emitted from our decomposing waste. The electricity is sold to the national grid and the leftover compost is sold to New Zealand farmers as a fertilizer. The money produced from this will be used to provide immediate aid to the Solomon Islands, the poorest nation in the pacific region. This would provide a sustainable solution to the starvation. Again, we had to produce a slideshow, prototype, business plan and oral presentation.

The final day, Tuesday, we had a big breakfast at Massey and the Managing Directors of all the companies gave a final speech of their work, progress and the outcomes of their groups over the past four days. We all received a $1000 scholarship to Massey Business School. I can firmly say that this was the most amazing opportunity, not only was it fun and challenging but I learnt many skills and lessons that have helped me through running my own company and others useful in everyday life such as time management. The opportunities the Young Enterprise Scheme offers are invaluable.

Community Service

As part of their movie-making unit, the Year 9 IT class visited Glengarry Kindergarten and produced a short DVD for each child. They had earlier designed and produced some promotional material for the Kindergarten. This is extremely relevant and worthwhile learning.

SELL

An exciting new programme for the Commerce Department is the Student Enterprise Learning Link involving 80 Year 10 students. Run over three days at the end of term four, ten teams of eight students led by a "CEO" compete in a business planning challenge. The student "companies" had to come up with an innovative product idea and consider how they would produce, market and finance the venture.  Five judges from the local business community were invited to judge the companies' presentations on the last day and were very impressed with the programme and the way the students worked together and confidently presented their business plans. 

2008 NZCETA Southland Top Scholars' Awards

James Hargest College Commerce students have scooped the pool at the Southland Commerce and Economics Teachers' Association Top Scholars' Awards winning five of the seven available categories.

The newly instituted awards recognise the top NCEA external exam results of all Southland students. The awards were presented at a function hosted by sponsors WHK Cook Adam Ward Wilson. The local accounting firm also provided cash prizes to the students.

The Hargest students that won the awards were:

Kaycee Bottle            Level 1            Information Technology

Rachit Sharma          Level 1            Accounting

Olivia Boyle               Level 3            Accounting

Luke Baird                  Level 2            Economics

Jessica MacAskill     Level 3            Economics

Congratulations to the students. The awards reflect their hard work and the quality of teaching and learning in the Commerce Department.

2008 Global Enterprise Challenge Winner

Year 13 Business Education student, Melissa Eade (fourth from left in photo) was selected as one of two Southland students to attend the Global Enterprise Challenge in Auckland recently.  Melissa was placed in a team with other students from around the country to compete against nine other teams. The teams were set a challenge "to produce a working model of an innovative product, process, service or plan that will reduce the impact of the growing demand on the world's dwindling water resources."  The team had to prepare and present a business plan to a panel of judges who selected Melissa's team as the national winner.

The winning team then represented New Zealand in the global final. This involved further intensive preparation over a 24 hour period before posting a three minute video-streamed presentation to an international panel including NASA chief scientist Dr Neil Pellis. The New Zealand team's plan for a saltwater farming technology to grow sea asparagus took the top honours against teams from twenty countries.

The competition is organised by the Enterprise New Zealand Trust in partnership with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and was hosted and sponsored by Massey University Auckland.

You can read more at http://news.massey.ac.nz/

University Economics Study Resounding Success

In 2008, three Year 13 students enrolled in Lincoln University's Regional Education Programme to complete a stage one paper in Economics alongside their level three studies.

Luke Baird was awarded a $100 scholarship from the James Hargest Commerce Department to offset his fees as the highest achieving student in NCEA Level 2 Economics.

The students were able to access course material provided by Lincoln and were tutored by their Economics teacher Mr Redmond.  With much of the content similar to level three, the students said it complemented their school work and better prepared them for their level three and scholarship exams. They also felt it increased their confidence and awareness of university styled learning and assessment.

The results achieved were outstanding.

Luke Baird A+

Judith Calder A+

Christian Neilson A

As the candidate achieving the highest mark, Luke Baird was awarded the Redmond Trophy at the 2008 James Hargest College Prizegiving.  

The programme will operate again next year and is available to those who have successfully completed Level 2 Economics.

PWC NZ Economics Competition

Economics

The PWC New Zealand Economics Competition attracted 16 entries from Year 12 and 13.  Results this year were some of the best we have achieved with six high distinctions and a further two distinction awards.

Judith Calder                         Year 13          High Distinction

Luke Baird                             Year 13          High Distinction

Daniel Redmond                   Year 12          High Distinction

Iftekhar Khan                          Year 12          High Distinction

Haydon Cunninghame      Year 12          High Distinction

Ryan Lester                           Year 12             High Distinction

Sam Reynolds                       Year 12            Distinction

Jeffrey Situ                             Year 12           Distinction

Daniel also received a monetary award for being one of the very top achievers.

For the first time in 2008, our year 13 class entered the University of Canterbury Economics Challenge, a multi-choice test, set by the university to help students gauge their progress towards NCEA level three. Congratulations to Luke Baird who achieved a Distinction award placing him in the top 3.5% of the 200 students sitting the test.

Information Technology

ICAS Competition 2008

Congratulations to Chris Kennedy who received a Distinction award.

Commerce Prize Winners 2008

Luke Baird - winner of the Redmond Trophy for the top mark in the Lincoln University Stage One Economics paper

James Moynihan - winner of the Maureen Fox Cup for Year 11 Accounting and Economics

Craig Marshall - winner of the Rayner Cup for Excellence in Year 10 Information Technology

Aliesha Pile - winner of McIntyre Dick Prize for Year 13 Accounting.