Bronxville High School Students Build Personal Brands

Students in Bronxville High School’s Entrepreneurship class have been crafting their own personal brands that reflect their unique skills, values and goals. Under the guidance of their teacher Brian Halling, the students are designing personalized websites to tell their stories and showcase their talents. 

“The goal of this project is to empower my students to think critically about their roles as young adults and their mission and vision for themselves as they approach the critical years of applying for college, selecting a career path and ultimately establishing themselves as adults in the world,” Halling said. 

Through self-reflection, the students explored their strengths, values, interests and goals, identifying key areas they are passionate about. They researched influential leaders in their fields of interest and crafted personalized vision statements, detailing their aspirations and strategies for achieving their goals. Each student created a logo to symbolize their brand and a professional website to showcase their work, accomplishments and portfolios. 

The impact of this project extends far beyond the classroom. Bronxville High School senior Marcus Jun used the skills he developed to launch Novelty Innovations, a nonprofit organization aimed at fostering students’ interests and abilities in STEAM. Working independently with Halling during the previous school year, Jun’s vision has grown into a thriving initiative. 

The class’s focus on innovation will culminate in a high-stakes pitch event. Towards the start of the third marking period, the students will present their business ventures to a panel of administrators, Bronxville School Foundation members and community leaders. Successful pitches will receive seed funding through the Bronxville School Foundation’s LUSY grant and students will work to use this funding to bring their venture to life.  

Halling emphasized the broader purpose of the course of empowering students to see the value in themselves and their own ideas.

“My hope is that my students have the time and space to explore and learn about valuable tools that they can use to help bring their ideas to reality,” Halling said. “I’m also hopeful that they will be able to more easily identify the power that one person possesses to really innovate and change the world we live in.”