On November 14, 2018 Founder of Fortech Solutions, Kathryn Fortin hosted a Junior Achievement Launch Lesson at the Unschool in the San Juan School District, Sacramento area for National Entrepreneurship Month.

Before an audience of the principal, two teachers, two members of the Junior Achievement Program, and 26 students, Ms. Fortin shared everything, from her business at Fortech Solutions to the strenuous journey it took to get there.

As a Gamification Certified Elearning Solutions Architect and Support Analyst, with over 25 years of experience in engineering, software development, training, Ms. Fortin shared her struggles with dyslexia, a complicated family life, and a ton of discouragement, which took a lot of willpower to overcome.

“Growing up, my parents were divorced, and we were struggling financially, so I always had at least one part time job throughout school,” says Ms. Fortin. “Barely making 12k a year, my mother struggled working multiple jobs, and she needed public assistance, so we had to live with my grandmother, and great grandmother.”

After that, Ms. Fortin went on to say how all this led to her finding Fortech Solutions, and everything her team deals with from project management and help desk, to gamification and virtual world training.

Leaving the floor open to the students to share their ideas of businesses they would like to start, Ms. Fortin concluded the presentation with a challenge for them: to build their own online course within the Moodle LMS platform.

“This competition will allow students to compete, using their own skills to design a course that will be judged on format, content, style, activities, etc.” says Ms. Fortin. “Top three courses will be assessed and judged after the first of the New Year.”