Alums Share Entrepreneurial Spirit

In-class field trips occur frequently at GA.  The teachers and faculty love to bring in outside expertise to expand on what we have learned in class.  This past Wednesday, Ms. Russomagno organized an in-class field trip involving all the students enrolled in Economics, Entrepreneurship & Branding, Personal Finance, and The New Community Project electives, as well as a few art classes. We spent the day listening to two GA alumni, Patrick FitzGerald '93 and Mason Wartman '06.  Patrick started many companies including the very successful company Recyclebank and teaches at Wharton School of Business at Penn. Mason left his career on Wall Street to start a pizza place named Rosa's that charges $1 per slice, and for every slice sold, he gives a free slice to someone in need. He has received national attention for his undertaking and was recently on Ellen. Also, there was a panel that consisted of two speakers, Krista Emmett '98 and Rich Podulka '95. Krista started a boutique public and marketing agency based out of Doylestown called Streamline6. Rich owned restaurants and bars in New York and Philadelphia before starting a construction company.

The panelists with Gaby Russomagno, Director of Innovation & Special Programs and Heather Durkin, Director of Alumni Relations after speaking with Upper School students.

The opportunity to speak with GA alumni in the business world was incredible. I learned so much by listening to all the obstacles that each of them overcame to get to where they are now. Each alumnus’s experience seemed to have sparked from his or her experiences at GA. Rich even mentioned he wished he had a class similar to the Entrepreneurship class taught by Ms. Russomagno so that he could have learned earlier on that owning and running a business was his passion.

Patrick FitzGerald addresses classes in the Honickman Auditorium.

Patrick followed by saying he didn’t even know what entrepreneurship was in high school, but still his experiences at GA paved the way to his success. Being able to listen to the triumphs of people who not too long ago were sitting in my seat was very inspiring. If I took away anything from the panel, it was to keep trying even when you fail. A powerful lesson that each of us should take with us.

~Julia P. '15