The school team of Modern Posture capped off another year of achievement for Presentation Castleisland in the Student Enterprise Programme by winning a title at the national finals in Croke Park on May 5th.
The Student Enterprise Programme offers students the opportunity to take a business from idea stage all the way through to production, marketing and selling.
Over 25,000 students across the country participated in this year’s programme.
The Modern Posture team and National Title winners consisted of: Aisha Pabon, Grace McGovern, Niamh O’Donnell and Aoibhinn Walsh.
Mobile Phone Stands
Their team designed and manufactured portable, sustainable and lightweight mobile phone stands from up-cycled wooden floorboards. The aim of their enterprise is to prevent what has become known as ‘tech neck’, strain on the spine and neck from students leaning forward and slouching while using their electronic devices.
They won first place in the intermediate category in the county final in March and represented Kerry in the national finals in Croke Park.
The students made excellent presentations to the judges on their business and deservedly won a title for best display stand.
In Pursuit of Solutions
“They developed a business in pursuit of a solution to a real world problem. This makes it six years in a row where Presentation Castleisland has won a title at the National Finals,” said ‘Enterprise’ teacher, Edward Clarke.
The success in the All-Ireland in May followed on from the win by students in Presentation Castleisland in the county final held in March in the MTU.
The First Year team of FoldemGoals, made up of: Millie Hughes, Molly Moran and Frankie Maguire were awarded runner-up, for their design of foldable and portable GAA and soccer goal posts. The enterprise encourages more young people to practise sport.
Innovative Pet Jacket
The Healthy Heat team of: Colene O’Callaghan, Jasmine O’Sullivan, Amber Foley, Blaíthín McBride and Emily Walsh were awarded the runner-up prize in the senior category for their innovative pet jacket which provides heat therapy to animals.
The focus of the team is to provide heat therapy to isolated areas of a dog or cat, for example, hips of a dog in the case of arthritis. The team up-cycled old fabric materials for the jacket, and developed pouches of flaxseed which, after being heated in a microwave, can be inserted inside the jacket.
Pen Locket, made up of: Nell Hartnett, Ella Greaney, Leah Griffin and Muireann Hickey developed a business to make stationary armbands for the storage of pens, pencils and markers by teachers and students.
Judges’ Imagination Captured
The students won the award for best stand at the county final, with their giant rubber, colouring pencils and overall display which captured the imagination of the judges.
The aforementioned Mr. Clarke added that it was wonderful to work with enthusiastic and creative young students this year who applied their learning in enterprise to develop real world mini businesses.
“This programme complements student learning in the classroom and gives students an opportunity to make pitches to business professionals. It was brilliant to see ‘Modern Posture’ enjoy a day out in Croke Park and we hope other teams from our school can follow in their footsteps in future years as well,” he said.
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