Stewarton Academy wins the Young Enterprise Ayrshire final
Stewarton Academy has won the Ayrshire area final of the Young Enterprise Scotland awards and will now represent Ayrshire at the Festival of Youth Enterprise at Hampden this May.
The team from S5 and S6 – Struan, Ryan, Grace, Jessica, Thomas, Rob, Rory, Finlay, Tom and Jamie, participated in the Young Enterprise Scotland programme as part of their senior phase studies.
The company they formed, Corsehill Crafts, has designed, manufactured and sold a wide range of customised wooden products, ranging from chopping boards and cheese paddles, through to bottle holders and place mats.
Their profits have been reinvested into purchasing additional enterprise resources for the school, including a machine for the custom design, printing and production of t-shirts and hoodies.
At the Ayrshire finals, Corsehill Crafts, lifted four of the ten awards available – Best Product, Best Interview, Best Presentation, Best Community Engagement and the top prize of Best Overall Company.
Kilmarnock Academy was also represented at the Ayrshire Finals by three companies – Cando made up of Katy, Rebecca, Charlotte, Jade and Lana, which produced Christmas themed wax melts – Bits and Bobs made up of Ewan, Kirka, Vika, Daniel, Connor, Morgan, Dylan and Aiden, which produced Christmas ornaments using a 3D printer and Tucker’s Tags made up of Callum, Ross, Dylan, Ben, Taylor and Max, which produced personalised light-up dog tags.
The Robert Burns Academy had two companies in the competition, EverBurns and Light It Up. EverBurns, which was run by Megan, Lewis, Kyle, Kayla, Ellie, Yasmin, Reese, Evie and Catriona from S6, won awards for Best Company Business Report and Best Marketing while Light It Up, which was run by Lucy, Nicole, Charlie, Kela, Olivia, Emma, Margaret, Niamh, Kirstin, Holly G and Holly M, won the Sustainability Award.
Councillor Elaine Cowan, Cabinet Spokesperson for Lifelong Learning, Education and Skills and Culture said: “Huge congratulations to all our companies who represented East Ayrshire at the Young Enterprise Ayrshire area final and of course to Stewarton Academy for being named the overall winners. We are very proud of you all.
“Enterprise projects like this are a fantastic way of helping prepare our young people for the world of work. At their core is the development of wider skills for work and also skills for life such as communication, problem solving, team working and resilience, all set within the context of establishing and sustaining a business. It also encourages entrepreneurship, which can only benefit East Ayrshire in the future.
“I would like to take this opportunity to wish Corsehill Crafts the very best of luck at the final next month.”