School Spirit Enterprise: Students Design, Build, and Launch at Port Richmond High School

Teaching artist David Nudelman returned to his alma mater, Port Richmond High School, to lead the School Spirit Enterprise program — a 12-week residency where students learned how to build a brand from the ground up.

Made possible by IlluminArt Productions, the program gave students a hands-on crash course in everything it takes to turn an idea into a product and a product into a business. Over 12 weeks, Nudelman and his assistant Shawn McArthur walked students through design fundamentals, branding, mockup creation, eCommerce platforms, customer service, budgeting, and website building — week by week, skill by skill.

Each student designed their own original t-shirt using Canva and learned how to bring it to life through print-on-demand. They studied collaboration, broke down how real brands market and sell, and ran through budget and shop simulations to understand what it actually costs to operate. By the end of the program, every student had not only a finished product but a website they built themselves to showcase and sell their work.

The hallway photos say it all — students lined up holding their designs, proud of something they made from scratch.

In His Own Words

"I remember walking through these hallways. Just a kid with a dream," says David Nudelman. "I am grateful I get to live out my dream of showing the future generation that having a creative career is possible."

For Nudelman, bringing this program back to Port Richmond made it personal. This is the school that shaped him, and being back in those hallways as a teaching artist closed a full circle.

Why It Matters

There's a difference between learning about business and doing business. School Spirit Enterprise puts students in the driver's seat. They make the creative decisions, they work through the logistics, and they walk away with real skills they can use today.

IlluminArt Productions has been serving Staten Island communities since 2010, using arts-based programming to create opportunity and equity for young people. School Spirit Enterprise is one more example of that mission in action.

Just the Beginning

Every student who walked into that classroom left with more than a t-shirt and a website. They left knowing they can create something, build something, and put it out into the world. That's not a lesson you forget. Whatever comes next for these students — whether it's fashion, tech, business, or something nobody's thought of yet — they now know that dreams can become reality. We hope you all don’t stop dreaming.