Double success for Abbey VS Donegal town at National Student Enterprise Awards

There was double success for Abbey Vocational School in Donegal Town last week when it brought home two awards from the National Student Enterprise Finals in Croke Park.

The Donegal Town school students under the guidance of their teacher Lucy Gordon, had taken both the top senior and junior awards at the Donegal finals in May and impressed the judges again last week at the national finals.

Junior category entry Tweedelicious - make coasters from Donegal Tweed cut offs and their team of Sorcha Walsh, Summer Mae Kerr, Aoife Cox, Amy McGroary and Christina Gysling - made a big impression on the day, taking 3rd place in the junior category.

In the senior section, Aodhan McCrudden, Luke Kelly and Cormac Sweeney impressed the judges with their ‘Growth’ business,’ aimed at promoting greener and more environmentally friendly garden products.

Having already won the overall award in Donegal, they received a special merit award at the national finals.

The Student Enterprise Programme, organised by the Local Enterprise Office, is part of a national programme for secondary level school students with the ambition of encouraging a culture of entrepreneurship. It also allows students to understand the potential of being self employed as a career choice while educating them on the principles of business.

In Donegal, the programme started in September with an idea generation workshop delivered at several locations across the county, before schools progressed to the county finals in March.

Head of Enterprise in Donegal, Michael Tunney, said it was always pleasing to see Donegal competing on the national stage and praised the students for the standard of their entries.

“The Local Enterprise Office is geared towards promoting the spirit of entrepreneurship in Donegal and we are glad to see such enthusiasm for the competition. We are always delighted to give our support to young entrepreneurs and it is always great to see awards coming back to the county from the national finals,” he said.

Local Enterprise Office Donegal is supported through co-funding from the Irish Government and the European Regional Development Fund 2014 – 2020. To contact the Local Enterprise Office in Donegal, log on to www.localenterprise.ie/donegal or phone 0749160735.