For his Housatonic Valley Waldorf School eighth grade project student Forrest Anderson created his own business.shop.spreadshirt.com/expectgreatthings. Prices range from $20 to $26.

Forrest recently explained his business began when he decided how to learn "how to start my own business designing and selling T-shirts with a meaningful message."

The T-shirts are now designed and available for purchase online, at

The shirt design has been completed for a few weeks. Each shirt has a wave design and the words "expect great things."

"I just wanted to learn how to start a business and learn how to create a T-shirt," said Forrest.

When he was designing his shirts, Forrest said he wanted something that would have meaning for him.

"Something that popped in my mind was the idea that my mom has always told me you get what you expect. If you expect good things, good things come. When you start to worry about not-good-things coming, you get that too. My shirts remind me and others to expect great things. This way, we can all experience great things in our lives," said Forrest.

He also decided he will donate ten percent of the profits from selling the T-shirts to a charity to help provide drinking water for people in need in Africa. Forrest was still looking for the right charity as of April 4.

The idea of helping to provide drinking water inspired the "swooshlike design on the T-shirt that is actually my idea of a wave," said Forrest, who added that he really likes the ocean.

Each year eighth grade students at Housatonic Valley Waldorf School are asked to choose a yearlong project to study. This year's students are working under the guidance of teacher Janelle Beardsley.

Along with Forrest's "Starting a T-Shirt Company" project other projects are "Family Genealogy" by Pauline Fernandez, "Visual Illusions" by Maya Goode, "Building an Adirondack Lean-To" by Ryan Greguski, "Quadcopters and Aerial Videography" by Brady Knuff, "Robotics" by Conor McCann, "Architecture: Designing a House" by Ellery McFarland, "Scuba Diving" by Monika Mihok, "Brewing Birch Beer" by Timothy Redpath, "Glassblowing" by Kira Schoenberg, "Community Gardens at a Business Site" by Danny Schum, "Building a Remote-Controlled Model Yacht" by Quinn Siddiqui, "Learning to Sing" by Emily Stringer, and "Aquaponics" by Aiden Usher, according to the school.

Forrest said he has never worked on anything like creating and selling T-shirts.

By April 4 Forrest said he had sold 44 t-shirts, and his goal is to sell 100.

"I'm trying to make $1,000 profit," said Forrest, "and that is 100 T-shirts."

If he can sell 100 t-shirts Forrest said he will donate $100 to a charity, and he will put the remainder of the profit "back into the business" to continue to sell T-shirts.

To complete his project, Forrest said he mentored with Pam Davis of ourgreenhouse.com. Forrest said Ms Davis helped him look at options for selling the T-shirts, buying the T-shirts, and making the T-shirts, along with other aspects of his project.

Forrest said he has spent time sharing the news about his T-shirts with family and friends, and he plans to share the news about his new business at other Waldorf schools to help spread his business.