Best of the Week 2021-2022: Teaching to the Future

SENIOR CONNECTS WITH SUCCESSFUL YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR; RECEIVES HELPFUL ADVICE ON GOAL SETTING AND LIVING OUT YOUR DREAMS

Ethan Kosco '22, an IB student working on his International Assessment Business paper, connected with CEO of Gladiator Lacrosse, Rachel Zeitz who not only owns her own lacrosse website, but has sold her site for a profit of $3 million. Tying his passion for lacrosse into his project's focus on how gladiator lacrosse partnered with Amazon and how it will affect the future of the company, Ethan reached out to Rachel to gain more understanding about her company, her entrepreneurial goals, and to seek professional advice from a young entrepreneur. "Rachel started this company was she was 13. We've talked about her company's numbers, predictions, and the effects of partnering with Amazon, but she's also shared how hard it was to get the company started compared to today where they predict making $7 million this year," says Ethan. "The biggest thing I've learned through this experience has to be the impact and ingenuity of not only young CEOs and entrepreneurs, but the ingenuity of young people in general. If you have an idea, there's really nothing stopping you from pursuing it if you have the drive and knowledge to do so." Reflecting on his own goals and thinking with an IB global mindset, Ethan's paper brings together his interests and curiosities while highlighting how young entrepreneurs can truly make their dreams a reality. "With this project, I knew I wanted to write about something different and I thought it'd be interesting to write about a company run by a young entrepreneur only a few years older than myself. Now at 21, Rachel's advice to me was to pursue my dreams because I never know where I can end up. Speaking with her has helped me become a better learner, giving me a different lens to look at my goals through. I'm deciding on whether to become a lawyer or an investment banker and someday work on Wall Street, and this project has made me realize that I want to be the best I can in life," says Ethan. "This IB paper has been somewhat challenging for me, not just with the writing part, but it has made me wrestle with my future a bit and what I want to do. Seeing what Rachel has done in her time in life, it's challenged me to want to be the best I can be in my life."