Immokalee High School on Entrepreneurship and Projects That Serve Community

You’re listening to the Getting Smart podcast. I’m Shani and today I am joined by a superstar team of students and teacher from Immokalee High School. First, I’ll introduce the teacher Faya Justema. Faya is an educator at Immokalee High School in Collier County Public Schools in Naples where she has taught for four years. She is also an entrepreneur in the local community where she runs a real estate and small personal finance advising company with her sister.

We’re also joined by two senior cousins from Faya’s incubated EDU classroom team, Luz Contaro Wapia and Elizabeth Wapia. Alongside of some of their classmates, they created the company Harvesting Housing to Serve Migrant Farmers Ladies. Thank you so much for being here today. How are you? We’re doing well. Thank you. Thank you for having us. Yeah, so glad that you all are here and Faya, I don’t even know how you had time to be here because you’re teaching, you’re running

a business, you’re helping students running a business, you’re doing so much and we would really, we really loved hearing you as South by Southwest speak about youth entrepreneurship. What did you think of that experience? What did you take away from it? Oh great, that was a wonderful experience. It was really my first time attending the event. I was really surprised to see how large, how many people came from all over to participate, share ideas related to education, innovation.

It was really amazing. I was glad and privileged to be able to share the stage with some of the other experts in education and talk about some of the challenges that we encounter, some of the success stories. So that was a great experience. I was really excited to share the stage with other professionals, educators from all over the world about challenges in the classroom, challenges in education and also listen and share some of the amazing stories

of what’s happening in education. No, that’s really great. I heard some great reviews on that panel and speaking of Uncharted, your classroom is structured using the incubator EDU curriculum, which is how your students are creating these projects and incubator EDU gives students an opportunity to have a real-world learning experience and not just talk about businesses, but really start them and pitch for funding and do some problem solution thinking.

Why was that important for you to connect that sort of learning to your classroom? Oh great question. I myself am from this community and knowing the limited resources that we, you know, the struggles we have as far as students being exposed to great examples of successful entrepreneurs and businesses, I was really excited that our school got to be part of a program where we would bring business into the classroom and give the students opportunities

to actually meet with successful entrepreneurs in our community, talk about their aspirations, you know, get them to become confident about their ability to start, run a successful business. So really incubator EDU provided the platform for us, the curriculum for us to be able to do that in the classroom and when my students come out of this program, they’re ready, they’re confident that, hey, you know what, this is not an abstract idea. I’ve done it and I can actually go and

reproduce what I learned in the real world and become a successful entrepreneur. Yeah, it truly takes a village as they say or a community to really lift up students so that they do have that confidence to feel ready to take those next steps during high school and beyond. Elizabeth, describe your community to me. Well, Amaklea is a small town located in southwest Florida. We have a large amount of crops that go

in and out. It’s most known for agriculture, you know, the everyone that’s in here, other community, other people, every person in here, it’s amazing. It’s amazing what Amaklea could bring to the world. Most of the population of Amaklea are migrants from all of South America. So it’s really amazing how everyone all together gathers together and just creates something really new and really inspiring for not only us but for others as well.

And what do you love most about it, Elizabeth? What do you love most about creating something new? I love, what I love most about it is that we could inspire other young, you know, the new generations that are coming. They might see us and, you know, like take our legacy on like, okay, you know, they inspired me to do this or like do more, learn something more new, get out their comfort zone. You know, it’s just inspiring to teach and give advice to other

young students. It seems like more and more teachers are inspiring students to really act in service to their community. And here in Elizabeth, talk about sharing and leaving a legacy for the younger generation is truly inspiring. And using those purpose-based projects, how do you foster that sense of difference making in your classroom and community, Valia? Well, I think based on my experience, especially with this, the demographic that where we serve

in this area being largely migrant, farm worker, agricultural, immigrant population, it is not that the students don’t get involved typically or they just usually need some guidance and some confidence. So for me, the experience has been that once you show them there is hope, then their own ideas that they have in their mind, now they can actually put faith behind that and say, you know what, if I’m really willing, if I’m really willing to work hard, there is a way out

there for me to be successful. And with this community in particular, one of the things that is so unique about Immokalee is that we have each other’s back. In a sense that when you’re from Immokalee, we call it I-town. It’s like, I mean, I’ve gone away so many times and somehow always find myself back in Immokalee. There is a special connection where once you’re part of the community, like in our school, we say once in Indian, that’s our mascot, always in Indian. So somehow our students

are now finding a mean to actually bring something back to their communities, whether they’ve gone to college, now they want to come back and do something here. And those that are here learning that, oh my god, there are opportunities out there. What can I do to leave a legacy? What can I do to change my current situation, my community, my family, and the next generation? What can I leave? How can I leave my impact on this community that we love so much? And these programs have allowed the children

to actually know that their dreams can actually come true. And it’s no longer a dream and idea in their mind. We are providing the path, the steps, the tools, the way for them to be successful. And in this community, success looks like watching out for the others. It’s not just about me, okay, I want to get out of this town, I want to go to college, I want to do that. It’s more for them when they leave, if they leave, what would they leave behind for the others? So that is Immokalee, that is our

community. And the sentiments don’t go away, even if you move, you’re always thinking about how can I make my community better? So needless to say, almost all of the projects coming out of my classroom, they have to do with the need, the solution to a need in the community. And a lot of times it’s not even about themselves and what they go through, it’s about what they observe and them wanting to change it. So I believe that the fact that we’re able to provide them with hope and the tools,

they will surpass us and amaze us with the things they’re able to do because they have the tool. So the ideas are always there, it’s just they needed tools and we’re able to provide them. And I agree. So in other words, this project is just really showing how much you care about making the world a better place. And I mean, what’s better than that? Lou, do you agree, do you agree that that’s what this project is about? Yes, I really do, like she said, Ms. Justema said, that that’s one

of our goals, making the community better than what it is now. Like Elizabeth said, our community is full of a lot of people from Mexico, Guatemala, Salvador, and Honduras, Haiti, like we have all types of people here. And one thing that really, really inspires me to work hard is just the amount of work they do from monthly. We have people that wake up from five in the morning, don’t come home until 10, just working under the sun, picking all these vegetables and fruits that goes all around

America. So for us to give back to our people is by providing them the help, the homes they deserve, come back home, and rest, and take a good shower and eat a good meal to have strength for the next day. Yeah, if I may add, and again, the idea of harvesting housing is really making their current situation better. Maybe you guys can talk a little bit more about the actual conditions of the homes that migrant workers live in because they have no choice. Again, the challenges of working

15-hour day, work days, and not being able to come home to a place where they can rest. And that’s been the topic of conversations from the beginning of this project where we would like to be a little bit better for them because they are just trying so hard to provide a good life for their children, for the family, but then again, there’s no way they can rest after working so hard. And having a home, a place to come to, it doesn’t have to be a mention, but a

place that’s safe and comfortable really is a priority for these students to be able at least to see that in this community, where the migrant workers can come home and rest and be ready for the next day because they do, those are hardworking people. And Immokley is a place where they can find work because they work the farms, but then again, there is almost no way for them to actually raise their family properly. To Adam was with Justina said, sometimes, you know, they work

day and night so they can provide us kids with the education that we need to achieve our dreams. You know, their dream for us is to not work in the fields, but to work in like a business, like have our own business, and an office with air conditioning. That’s our parent’s dream. That’s migrant parent’s dream for their kids. So it only, it’s only, it feels better for us if we provide them with that housing they need to know, so they let them know that they’re not alone.

They have other people that are looking out for them. They have their support, you know, just to feel loved and feel that community together. And so you serve them and you honor them by giving back to them. And isn’t that what we all want to have a safe and comfortable place to rest? Like she said, it doesn’t have to be fancy, but it does have to, it has to be safe. And we all talk about work-life balance all the time, but when you can’t find that true balance to really get the

energy that you need to get up and go to work, it is a challenge. And so, Luz, what got you interested in migrant farmers? Not only am I interested, but my parents are actually migrant workers. So I grew up around, I’m a lot of migrant workers and I grew up around the environment. And I grew up living in homes where our walls and roof were falling apart. Our water was, we didn’t even have hot waters. We had only cold water to shower. You know, toilets and sinks didn’t work. We had rats

running all around the home, mobile homes. So that’s, from my experience, I wouldn’t want another kid from five to like newborn age to be living in situations like that. And that’s what inspired me also to work on this project. But yeah. To add on what she said, like I’m also a migrant as well. So I get to travel with my parents and, you know, I get to work in the fields as well. And not like a year ago, we came across a farm grower that was growing their crops and he was like, he told me,

because I speak more English than my parents. So he was communicating with me. He was like, it’s really nice that we would have someone that would do housing for migrant workers because we could bring them, but we don’t know where to place them. As a matter of fact, I was told that there were migrant workers living in a semi truck. You know, that’s not even a home. That’s mostly, you know, to take loads, bring loads, but to live in there. That’s, that’s a whole different world.

Family, maybe? Yeah, family were living in there. That’s that shocked me and that hurt me knowing that I had the opportunity to give them that housing. I have the opportunity to bring this business and to give them the opportunity that I have, the other families have, but they don’t. Yeah. And so, and so, Elizabeth, how does that make you feel when people come up to you and say, thank you and just truly show their appreciation? It makes me feel proud of myself, not just myself,

but like as my team, as Ms. Justema too, because with her help, we were, we got so far. We’re getting so far and probably hopefully soon we’ll bring this to the real world. And more people would get to know us. And like I said, like even new generations will even help us to make it bigger, not just here in Florida, but all over the world. And that’s what really touched my heart. Yeah. And as you think about what you all are doing, the harvesting, the housing, the harvesting

housing, migrant workers, and you think about taking it to other communities, how did you identify the need to streamline the qualification process so that when others might want to take something like this on, they’ll understand what they need to do. Well, I, if I may talk real quick before they answer that. So in addition to the housing shortage that the migrants are experiencing, there’s a legal aspect of it as well, where they may not qualify for an apartment or a rental based

on the requirements right now to get housing. So part of the problem is the housing shortage. The other part is their legal status that may come into play. Being that they are migrant workers, they could be going through the immigration process of getting their documents. Therefore, for fear sometimes of deportation, they might be afraid to go and let somebody know, hey, I need housing, but I don’t have all my documentation in order yet. And a lot of times they don’t go for

it because of those reasons. So, and there’s a housing shortage all over the country right now, but in a mockery because of those other issues, it’s that much more difficult. So with the legal status for immigrants, the fact that they move every few months or every six months to another state for work, the fact that they are getting minimum wages and not getting paid regular salary, kind of like leaves them out of the qualification process to get a regular apartment to begin with.

So we are thinking that if we can get past those problems and the team can explain to you, part of their business plan is really provide a way for migrant workers to be able to get the documentation that they need and also advocate for them to actually get adequate pay in order to be able to afford the housing, you know, on the basic housing market. So I’ll let them explain some of the ways they would work and how they would make sure that everybody who comes doesn’t get turned away

and basically qualifies for their project once they get it running. Yeah, so like Mr. Seema just said, you know, that’s one of their biggest fears because usually they don’t have the documents that one of the other companies are out there required. So for our business, what we were trying to do is like open up to everyone, tell them what we really are, who we really are and give them that one-on-one conversation like who we really are, what are

we expecting, you know. We’re not trying to make them feel like they’re left out, like Mr. Seema said, we’re trying to make them feel like everyone’s together, the whole community’s together, everyone to help everyone, no matter if you have papers or not, no matter if you have identifications or not, no, or your income or high income, no, we want to provide housing for everyone, right. Not just one certain people or a certain family or just because, you know, they

have a better stable home, we’re not going to provide them, but provide them that, no, we want to provide everyone. One of the part of their business plan that I was privileged to watch them develop shows where they design the housings based on needs, the family’s needs. For example, if you were to go to a regular apartment and try to get a three-bedroom, you would probably have to go through the qualification process, but also sign a lease maybe

for a year. And these migrant workers, they can’t stay in a place for one year because they have to travel, you know, they have to move their families around, move schools and all that. So that alone makes it difficult for them. So their housing would have plans for a family’s need. And when they talk about replicating the idea in other communities, for example, and I’m talking about the big vision here that they’ve shared with me, for example, if a family is here in Amarkaly from

December through May, and in May they have to get up and go to Georgia, there will be similar housing with the same requirements ready to receive them for six months or three months until they’re ready to move to another place. So those would be temporary housing that would require less qualification, lower income, which means we really have to try to find more ways to actually cover some of the costs of the housing so that we don’t pass it on to the migrant workers, you know, in their rents

when they would be paying. So again, it’s really a big undertake, but again, part of it is not go with the regular qualifications, but make it qualifications for migrant workers. And that means checking references, wherever they live temporarily before and get a reference from, you know, how they took care of the home. And maybe that would replace a regular rental verification. Maybe it’s their supervisors who help them in the field work with them, can give them a reference

in order to get housing. So there are so many aspects of it that we’re trying to make different than the way things are right now to help them qualify. And to add up to what Ms. Justima said about moving to making harvesting housing bigger to moving into other communities. Like I said, myself, I am part of a migrant family. I travel during the summer, I traveled to Hendersonville, North Carolina. And I also experience the same situations I experienced here in North Carolina.

So that’s another big part of the harvesting housing, making it bigger and targeting all those communities where all these migrant families are struggling just like Immokalee migrant families are struggling as well. So, you know, I guess what’s one, this is truly inspirational. This is not high school work. This is just, this is like over the top, being a good human kind of work, which is where we should all be living. So I applaud what you all are doing. But

lose when you’re thinking because you haven’t identified yourself as a migrant worker as well, as well as Elizabeth or your family. And then as you travel, you’re getting to see firsthand what these families are going through that you’re for these issues that you’re trying to solve. How does that affect you? Or how does that make you want to work harder or give this more purpose? It affects me because like I said, I myself, I mean, even till this day, I go through this.

During the summer, we’re going to go to North Carolina, and we’re going to find a rent where it’s too expensive and I’m not to live with another family. So we’re going to be having two families together. And I don’t want my sisters to grow like that. I’m 18, you know, my past 18 years, I’ve been living like this, and I don’t want my sisters to be living like this. So that inspires me to work harder and make a project where it’s going to help my community for kids my age and

kids younger, don’t have to live through the same situations I do. So it’s more like your legacy and everyone who’s been a benefit from it. I tell you, I continue to be impressed with the students and their care and their love. They’re very given. It’s not always about them. Like I said earlier, you would think, hey, I’m 18, I can get out of here and move on and maybe never come back. But they’re thinking, hey, we can’t leave our community the same way we found it. We have to live it

better for the others. And that’s really truly their hearts. Yeah, I love that. Luz, what’s next for harvesting housing? And Elizabeth, same question. Hopefully, I hope that people from California, you know, Texas, Chicago, listen to all this podcast, and they get to know who Immokalee really is and get the word spread around that Immokalee needs help. migrant families need help. So with the podcast, they can reach out to us and

be like, oh, hey, like, I would like to help you get this project in a role or if you need any help, I know people who build houses, people who know how to install concrete, the smallest things that would help us to have harvesting housing and running. And another thing is that there’s another organization in Immokalee called Immokalee and Fur Housing, where they’re targeting the same people and they’re trying to solve the same problem. And actually, they have a tour next week, where we’re

planning to attend. And one of my hopes is to partner up with them and help them get the word out too about their organization and make their organization bigger and successful. And to all of that, not just have just one organization, but to have multiple organizations that we could probably potentially have more than one organization that would help all of the families around. Because I’m pretty sure, you know, we’re just a small community, a small

business of just as two or three, we’re not going to be able to go all the way across. So it would be, you know, meaningful. We were like, partnering with them, finding partnerships. And like, my cousin said, like, we could possibly find investors or like, that would like to donate money to help us bring this business to the real world. If I may add to that, you know, they have been very involved in connecting with other organizations that tackle the same problem,

bringing awareness to the community. I think they’ve even gone as far as talking to people into maybe donating land towards certain projects in the area. And I think they want to continue to stay involved in the process, whether it’s them directly influencing that idea or someone else was already doing the same thing, partner with them. Last summer, we got a call from the Immokalea Alliance, Housing Alliance. And we had a meeting just like this, where they wanted to hear

about this great project and what the kids are doing and their business plan. We shared all of that information with them. And the company is still interested in getting them involved in it somewhere because they’re already doing it, solving the problem. So really making this on a bigger sale and have more partners in, you know, whether it’s donating land, giving money, investing, really be involved and be aware that there is a need and however way they can contribute to it,

do that. So I guess they do want to continue to be involved in front of everyone and at least bring awareness to the need here. Yeah. And Elizabeth, when you think about this project, sorry, Elizabeth, when you think about this project, did it give you a good foundation for your next entrepreneurial pursuit? Do you want to keep going and as you think about like social entrepreneurship or any kind? Yes, actually, it gave me a little more boost of knowing what I want

after high school. Excuse me. It gives me more of the knowledge, the fundamental structure of being an entrepreneurship, what it actually takes. Ms. Justema taught us a lot of things, a lot of new things that we probably would never know. She taught us how to get out of a comfort zone to try something new. For example, like I was really afraid of speaking to a lot of, we had a lot of interviews, we had a lot of podcasts. It was just a lot of things going on

and just got me out of my comfort zone. So actually go out there and actually see what’s next for me. I actually plan to attend school to bring this actual to the real world and hopefully one day I will. What are you going to school for? I’m going to school for hospitality and research management and actually doing a minor in agriculture business. So that’s something I’m really looking forward. This course that we took last year, it has really given me a big help on knowing,

understanding what entrepreneur is, you know, the business, how it flows, how we set up, like all the small stuff that business needs. In my mind, it was just, oh, you just sell this, you get the money and sell it again. No, it does not work like that. You need to get like legal status, you need to get money, of course. You need to plan out a real good business to be successful in life, to be a successful business, I mean. And this course inspired me to major in marketing and

also minor in agriculture business. You know, we both plan to go to college next year. I am planning to go to Abraham, Baldwin, agriculture college, it’s just in Georgia. I don’t know where you’re going. I’m going to go and for my FSU. Yeah, we both plan to pursue a major in the business world. So. And to add on, well, Jacima has been a huge inspiration to us. Like she has her own business. She has, she’s a teacher and a part of that she’s helping us like bring this actual

to the real world is just inspiring how much she believes in us. That brings it, that gives me more energy, more like, okay, I can do this because she believes in me and I’m not going to let her down. Yes, because Ryan Summer doesn’t mean all she forgets about is no, she’s over here blowing up our email. How’s the business going? Do we have new communicators? Do we have new investors? Like someone reaching out to you? Are you adding any updates to the business? Like she’s honest about

this business. And I’m really thankful for her because like I said, I didn’t know anything about the business world. And now because of her, I have somewhat more knowledge and who I had last year. That’s amazing. And because of her, every one second, second place in our district competition. And this is how we got here because of that. We got connections and people are just starting calling us. Can we interview you? Can we ask you questions? And you know, it was just all crazy after we

won second place. We never imagined we were going to get to a spot like this, you know, having a podcast with you. It’s something big. It’s probably for you, it’s small, but for us, it’s like a big, big thing. Because like I said, we’re spreading the word out to the world. Well, you all are a big, big thing to me. And to us, this is my Ms. Justina or Falia. I don’t know how you don’t come to school every day with such a big smile. And I know that

these two young ladies are just a sample of all of the amazing school or students at I-town. I feel like I’m cool enough to say I-town. That’s right. Okay, great. I just kind of made myself an alumni. But I’m so excited about the things you all are doing. And you all were saying, you know, you’re going to go to college and take this to the real world. You all are doing this. This is the real world. You all are doing more real world things than a whole lot of people. So just so

inspired. I want you to keep up the work that you’re doing. And just thinking of the words that you all said about confidence and hope and faith and legacy and community, you all are leaving all of these things for this next generation. So thank you. We will make sure that others hear your message and your story and what we want to make sure that you all keep going. So thank you for spending this time with us today and sharing what you all are doing along this journey and sharing what you

all are doing just to be better humans. So thank you. Thank you. It’s been a real pleasure being on this podcast. We thank you for your time. We thank you for this platform. Yes. We thank you for the opportunity reaching out to us and asking us questions. It was an honor being part of this. And like I said, for us, this is something really, really big. It might not be big for any like someone else, but for us, it’s really big. And especially, yeah, a great big opportunity,

especially since we’re really starting to build this idea around the world. This is like something I could check off my bucket list. Wonderful. Done and done. Thank you, ladies. Thanks for tuning into the Getting Smart podcast today. We want this podcast to be actionable and insightful and a great way to learn about what’s next in learning. In order to stay on the cutting edge, we need people in the field to tell us what they’re hearing, what they’re wanting,

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