The Pinewood Social Entrepreneurship Program, or PSP, allows many students to pursue passions in a way that is meaningful and impactful. While the seniors are wrapping up the program, this past month has been a particularly busy time for the juniors as they prepare to pitch their projects to their community.
Juniors recently put together project demonstrations and presentations for Pitch Night, where they officially showcase their projects to Gannon and other members of the Pinewood community for the first time.
Junior Rishi Chen’s project in particular centers around facets of local surroundings that many peers may encounter daily.
“My PSP project is focused on amplifying local history,” Chen said. “There’s history everywhere, especially in the Bay Area. I want to be able to tell these stories so people form more of a connection with the place in which they live.”
Chen is working on an app called Hidden History Project to map all of the historical locations in the Bay Area and alerts the user when they are within 50 meters (165 feet) of a site. The app then also provides a detailed description of the location and its significance. Chen’s project aims to broaden the knowledge of Bay Area history and help community members realize the historical importance behind the places where they currently live.
Meanwhile, senior Aretha Liu is wrapping up her work on her PSP project in high school, but she is hoping to continue her initiative by running and expanding the program throughout her college years and beyond. Liu designed a pet fostering program that provides educational workshops teaching pet caretakers how to foster animals. She was inspired to create her project by her own fostering experience.
“[Fostering pets is] really accessible, helps a lot of animals, and is a crucial part in rescues,” Liu said.
Michelle Gannon, the director of the program, believes that PSP is a crucial part of an aspiring entrepreneur’s journey because it teaches important life skills that are hard, especially for high school students, to learn elsewhere.
“[A PSP student] becomes a person who not only has deep knowledge in their area of interest but also a wide skill set and interest and understanding of the issues of social entrepreneurship,” Gannon said.
Ultimately, PSP aims to enrich the lives of participating students and those they assist. For many students, the program serves as both a learning experience and a platform for social change.
