Local students set for National Enterprise Finals
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Two students from Our Lady’s Bower Secondary School in Athlone, Emma Fallon and Saoirse O’Driscoll, were the Senior Winners at the Westmeath Student Enterprise Awards for their project ‘Hoody Buddy’ and they were pictured at last week’s awards ceremony with Catriona Duffy, Business Advisor LEO Westmeath, Cllr. Liam McDaniel (Cathaoirleach) and Barry Keogh, Chief Executive of Westmeath County Council. William QuainFive students from two local schools will represent Westmeath in the nationals finals of this year's Student Enterprise Programme when their projects won the senior and junior categories at the county finals last week.
Emma Fallon and Soirse O'Driscoll from Our Lady's Bower Secondary School won the senior category for their project 'Hoody Buddy' while three students from Moate Community School, Rachel Pillion, Emma Kelly and Florence Casey were the junior category winners for their project 'Resinate'.
Two other students from Moate Community School, Rebecca Concannon and Lillie Anders O'Brien were named as runners-up in the junior category for their project, 'L & R Creations'.
Other local winners included Marist College in Athlone which won the Sustainability Award for the project 'Custom Coasters Inc' developed by students Jimmy Walshe, Diarmuid O'Higgins and Andrew Cotton, and Mercy Secondary School in Kilbeggan whose students received two awards: One to Watch and Best Display, and were also named as runners-up in the Intermediate category.
Over 800 students from 11 secondary schools across Westmeath took part in this year's student enterprise programme, and the winning local students will now vie for national honours with hundreds of other student entrepreneurs from all over Ireland at the Student Enterprise National Final in the Mullingar Park Hotel on May 8 next.
The enterprise education initiative is Government funded through Enterprise Ireland and is delivered by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices. Over 30,000 students from just under 500 secondary schools across the country took part in the latest round of the programme, which is designed to support students to create, design and market their own business, all with the hope of reaching the national final.
Tracy Tallon, Head of Enterprise at the Westmeath Local Enterprise Office, described the winning county finalists as “excellent ambassadors” for the Student Enterprise Programme, and wished them the best of luck in the upcoming national finals. She urged all the participants in this year's programme to “keep nurturing your ideas, take risks and never stop learning” and added that “the world needs your creativity and resilience”. She said the skills learned by each student, the lessons learned and the experience gained “are invaluable” and pointed out that their journey in the competition “is a testament to your drive and ambition”.
Four students from St. Finian's College in Mullingar, were the winners of the Intermediate category with a project called 'Glow and Grow Comics', and will join the five students from Moate Community School and Our Lady's Bower in representing Westmeath at the national finals on May 8 next.