A CLARENDON teen has started his own lawn mowing business with a dream to raise enough money to be able to head to NASA with his school later this year.
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Nathan Carpenter hopes to raise enough money to fund the $6000 trip to the United States which has been organised through his school, Christian College.
Nathan, 15, said the total of the trip would be $6000 and he hopes to raise at least $3000 of that from the business.
"All the Christian school's around Victoria are being given the opportunity and Christian College is one of those," he said.
"The company which organises the trip has contacted all the schools. It's going to cost around $6000."
Nathan said the idea of starting a lawn mowing business came about through his year 8 classes last year where students to encouraged to start their own small businesses.
"We had to make our own little business and while heaps of people made things like lollies, I decided I'd like to start a lawn mowing business. I thought I'd give that a shot and I managed to get a few jobs.
"So when the idea of this trip came up, I thought I'd look to expand it and so far it's going well. I've had a few people contact me, hopefully I can get a few more as well."
Nathan's mother Magda said she was proud that her son had taken up the opportunity to fund his own trip, saying the family would fund half if there
"Opportunities come up like this and a lot of families would just say, 'we'll pay for it', so we're really proud that he's taken it on himself," Mrs Carpenter said.
"There's a lesson in everything you do, so if you can teach saving and money lessons at a young age, it can't be a bad thing.
"This opportunity is something that has really sparked something and you can see, it's given him the confidence in that he is able to do this.
"He's already talking about saving up for a car next, it's something we are certainly encouraging."
Nathan's rates are $30 per hour. If you would like to help Nathan in his goal of getting to NASA, contact 0427 689 184.
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