Simon Rezo

Marymount College

In Empowering Educators, inspiring Aussie teachers share how they build and nurture entrepreneurial mindsets in their classrooms. Here we ask Simon Rezo, Academic Coordinator – Business at Marymount College about his inspiration and how he creates creating authentic and connected learning experiences.

Q1. Can you give us three words that describe your life as an educator? 

Festive, chaotic, journey.

Q2: What’s one of the best learning experiences you’ve ever delivered?

Without a doubt, I most love teaching Supply and Demand. Once I establish the laws of supply and demand, we use the Uber App to investigate a live market. We record the price for a trip from Burleigh Waters to SeaWorld at the beginning of the lesson. Students are then tasked with checking that price every hour up until their bedtime and recording that data.

The following lesson, they model any changes in price within a particular timescale that I ask of them. We then discuss the results and why that change in price has occurred. It’s also fun to bring up the articles (like this one) about New Year’s Eve revellers paying huge money for Uber trips after midnight

Typically, we then play ‘The Fish Market Game’ which really sparks the competitiveness amongst the students whilst once again applying their knowledge of supply and demand to achieve desirable outcomes.

Q3: What’s one book, website or podcast you’d recommend to educators keen to build the entrepreneurial mindsets of their students?

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter.  

So much so that I have invested in a class set this year to enhance our ‘personal finance’ unit. Such brilliant takeaways in a way which is easily digestible for the students. This really shifts the thinking of the students and sparks outstanding discussions.

Meet this week’s Empowering Educator, Simon Rezo. 

Simon is Academic Coordinator – Business at Marymount College in Queensland. He told us “Upon completing a Commerce degree and travelling the world playing rugby, I made the best decision possible to study a Graduate Diploma in Education at UQ. Whilst coaching teenagers in Scotland I found a real passion for working with young people, which ignited a desire to become an educator. My journey post university landed me in the QLD State education system at Merrimac State High School. In atypical circumstances, I taught Maths, English, P.E, Humanities and Special Education, before working my way into the business department.

Teaching in the state system for 5 years helped me develop an arsenal of skills to navigate challenges and progress as a teacher. I am now the Head of Business at Marymount College in Burleigh Waters, a wonderful Catholic school with 52 years of history. I work with an outstanding team of teachers and primarily teach Economics (Years 10-12) and Business education. In the Department we offer Year 8-10 Business & Economics, Senior Business, Senior Economics, Cert III Business and Diploma in Business.”

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