Turning Ideas Into Impact

For Kate W. ’26, Global Entrepreneurship (GE) has been more than just a class; it has been a launchpad for discovering passions, building skills, and creating lasting impact at Chatham Hall and beyond.

Kate first joined Chaplain Barksdale’s GE courses in her sophomore year and quickly found herself drawn to the intersection of business, analytics, and innovation, as well as deeply impacted by her experiences with Chappy B, as the students affectionately call her.

“Over the past few years, Chappy B has witnessed my growth and transformation, both in the classroom and within the community. Through her courses, I have gained a wealth of knowledge in business and analytics, which has provided me with a solid foundation to build upon, starting from scratch and continuously laying the groundwork. This journey has also helped me discover my passion, inspiring me to explore further and delve deeper into these fields.”

Kate especially values the way the course connected learning with real-world applications. “It was through taking GE courses that I truly got into business studies, learning entrepreneurial thinking, and gained a more intuitive understanding of business knowledge and business analytics. By studying real-life cases, I learned how to analyze the success of companies, whether big or small, or even non-profits, and how to identify and solve problems through data.”

One highlight was the Arboretum project: “In global entrepreneurship, an important assignment was to implement a botanical garden for our school. To complete this project, our class worked together to understand the relevant knowledge about botanical gardens, arboretums, tree species, landscape, community spaces, etc. We worked directly with multiple tree specialists… Once approved, we were also responsible for the public announcement of the Arboretum and the opening kick-off event, which included people like our mayor, our board, and the entire local community.”

The course also gave Kate the confidence to experiment with her own ventures. “As a result of this opportunity and my learnings, I had the skills to develop and launch my own boba tea mini-business, selling handmade milk tea on campus… Building on this foundation, I collaborated with classmates to launch the ‘Sweet Next Door’ dessert brand… we used the proceeds to give back to the community, donating products to school staff members in maintenance, housekeeping, and other teams as a token of appreciation for their contributions to our community.”

Her capstone project reflected her global perspective: “The data I collected inspired my idea to bring lacrosse, field hockey, and other sports to China, as a means to improve wellness, while enhancing English education. My team analyzed the data and then designed a non-profit project to be implemented in collaboration with high schools in a targeted area.”

Kate describes herself as “curious,” “energetic,” and “imaginative.” She also emphasizes how much she values her community: “I want you to know how much I love this community, how willing I am to serve the whole community, and how much I love everyone around me.”

Looking ahead, Kate is excited to continue exploring her academic interests. “Right now, I have the knowledge to know what area I want to focus my studies on! I want to study an area like business analytics (perhaps an interdisciplinary major with business/data analytics/statistics).”