How a chill pill changed Mark from unsure to mentor

A school-based program and an off-the-cuff teacher’s comment transformed Mark Raison’s self-confidence and led him down a new path. 

Mark credits the Catapult program with giving him the confidence to pursue his goals and approach people who can help him. Although it was only 2 years ago he was part of the program himself, he’s already giving back as a mentor for the second year in a row. 

Catapult is a program delivered by Logan City Council in a number of high schools across Logan. It invites students to embrace their inner entrepreneur and research, develop and pitch a business idea to a panel of local businesspeople.  

Mark was in Year 11 in 2020 when he first participated in Catapult. 

‘I knew I wanted to do something in the business world, but I was very shy and had quite low self-esteem, so when I heard about Catapult I grabbed the opportunity,’ he says. 

‘For the first pitch we did, I was too shy to present – and the second time I only did because someone in our group was away that day. So I spoke – and we ended up winning!’ 

 As part of the program, students are able to access a range of opportunities designed to assist them to begin their career journey early, including hackathons, mentorships, business coaching, and industry visits. 

Mark and his team came up with the idea of a literal chill pill. 

‘It was a stress relief lolly that we came up with – something for teenagers to chew that would reduce anxiety,’ he says. 

‘It came from our teacher telling us to take a chill pill – so we did. Shout out to Miss Barnes for giving us the idea!’ 

When he was in Year 12 last year, Mark mentored the Year 11 students participating in Catapult – and this year he was a guest speaker at the Incubator event. 

‘Doing Catapult allowed me to improve my confidence and led me to what I am doing now,’ he says. 

‘I really enjoyed mentoring and speaking to students – I felt I could empathise with them and so was able to coach them really effectively.’ 

Mark is currently completing a pre-apprenticeship course through local business Protecho-Tech, as well as working on his ’side hustles’ of fitness training and resume writing. 

‘I don’t think I would have had the confidence to think about trying so many new things if it wasn’t for working on my business ideas and having to pitch to people I didn’t know during Catapult. It had a big impact and made me think that anything is possible,’ says Mark. 

‘I also have more confidence to approach people. Yesterday, I was talking to some tradies. I really want to be a carpenter eventually and was able to talk about this and ended up getting the number of a carpenter they knew. Without learning about entrepreneurship and confidence, I would not have confidence to get that number or make the call.’ 

Learn more about the Logan City Council Catapult program here.