Senior students are developing a taste for chocolate and entrepreneurship in their new masterplanned Infinity Centre at Matthew Flinders Anglican College on the Sunshine Coast.
Kokopod founder Brigid Woolnough visited the Infinity Centre on Tuesday, 20 February to run a workshop on food science and product development and creativity in the brand new food laboratories.
The workshop for Year 11 and 12 Food and Nutrition students explored how Kokopod blends art and science together with the best Australian produce to create its multi-award winning chocolate ranges, which are supplied to retailers across Australia and internationally.
The two-storey Infinity Centre is a world-class facility that enables students to work flexibly across a range of disciplines, including Design and Technologies, Visual Art, Digital Technologies and Business.
The spaces support students to follow the design thinking process and build skills to solve problems, reflect, collaborate, adapt and innovate for a better world.
Brigid worked alongside the students to provide insights into the industry. They discussed the research and development phase, and Brigid shared her extensive knowledge of quality ingredients. Then it was time for a tasting, of course.
Flinders’ Head of Technologies, Mrs Natalle Sutton said the workshop was a great opportunity for the students to learn how a product evolves from an initial concept to a marketable product.
“Students were provided with a stakeholder profile and tasked with creating a chocolate formulation that met their stakeholder's requirements,” Mrs Sutton said.
“Students were enthusiastic, not only because it involved designing and formulating solutions with chocolate but also because Brigid showcased a career pathway that has evolved into a highly successful business.
“It's important our students meet industry professionals because ‘You can’t be what you can’t see’.
“This focus on design thinking invites our students to consider the limitless possibilities in innovation to create products and services to better support people and build sustainable, healthy, creative and inclusive communities.”
Learn more about the Infinity Centre here.
