TRANSITION YEARS RUNNER-UP IN COUNTY ENTERPRISE AWARDS

ENTERPRISE IS ALIVE AND KICKING IN ST. AIDAN’S

46 Transition Year students from St. Aidan’s Comprehensive, Cootehill have demonstrated their entrepreneurial skills with a vengeance over the last 5 months. They participated in the Student Enterprise Awards run by Cavan County Enterprise Board. They were guided by their teachers Ms. Deirdre Marren and Ms. Jackie Sweeney. Enthusiasm was high as they set off on the path of brainstorming, market research, prototype development, production, promotion and sales. An Enterprise Day organised by CCEB in the Slieve Russell Hotel helped focus their minds on the task in hand. Teams were formed, roles and duties decided, ideas put forward, discussed and sometimes discarded until all teams felt they had come up with a winning formula. Eight teams produced such diverse items as foodstuffs ,popcorn (Poppers), brownies (Chocolate Empire), customised jewellery (Unique), denim bags from recycled denim(Da Bomb), picture frames (Ned’s Frames), calendars (Class Cals and Calendar Boys 4 Life) and Xmas greeting hand-delivered by Santa (Xmas Factor) and more. Before Christmas there was a Trading Day in school and also a Trading Evening to accompany the “Stars in Yer Eyes” competition. Based on the turnover from these two events alongside assessment by teachers two School Winners were chosen – Ned’s Frames and Da Bomb. All in all, over €2000 was generated on these two days – no mean feat! The County Final were held in March in the Slieve Russell Hotel where all teams had a stand and were judged on this and a comprehensive report which they had written. It was a great day and the tension was high as the results were announced. A mighty cheer erupted from the Cootehill students as “Da Bomb” were awarded runner up position in the Senior category. They were presented with a plaque and a cheque for €350. Teachers and students alike were thrilled with this fantastic result and we hope to continue the trend with Transition year groups of the future.