Numbers in the region of 25,000 young people entered the Student Enterprise Awards this year and the top 82 reached the National Student Enterprise Final which took place in Croke Park.
The qualifying projects were presented to judges across three categories.
Having won the Kerry Enterprise Junior Award Category, Clochaí Cneasta represented Kerry in the national final.
The team members were awarded third place overall in the junior category. The group consisted of Ellie Horgan, Emma Horgan, Laoise McSweeney and Bláithín O’Rahilly.
Testing and Marketing
The Student Enterprise awards introduces student to the concept of enterprise, problem solving, going out into the market place by testing and marketing an idea.
Clochaí Cneasta also reached the national semi-finals of the Foróige Entrepreneurship Competition having won the Munster Regional Final.
Clochaí Cneasta originated in 2020 during the nationwide lockdown when school were closed.
The students decided to paint on rocks that they had collected from beaches over the course of the summer.
Sending you Smiles
The rocks contained positive messages, e.g. ‘Sending you smiles to brighten your day’. The girls placed the rocks outside their houses along the road for people to read.
‘The rocks have since been bought by the school and will be displayed in the school courtyards,’ said Laura Leahy, business studies teacher and student enterprise co-ordinator.
Shauna O’Keefe and David Peskett designed a mobile application ‘Bright Mind’under the guidance Ms. Leahy.
The app was designed by the students last year in transition year and they brought their design to fruition this year by formally making it in fifth year.
Shauna and David Representing Ireland
They represented Kerry in the senior category of the Enterprise Awards.
Despite not receiving an award, they are representing Ireland in the Network for teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) World Youth Competition in Austria in September 2023. They were also national winners at the Kinia Ceative Tech Fest 2023.
The Kinia Creative Tech Fest is the first nationally recognised celebration of creative technology in Ireland.
The students won the computer science category and the overall portfolio category.
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