Mini-Company

On Monday, 14th March, the groups in the final of the Kildare Enterprise Boards, attended the semi final in the Osprey Hotel, Naas. We were really excited to set up our stall & see what the other teams had to offer. Although it was good fun designing the stand & putting up decorations, it was also quite stressful completing it on time & running around fixing things up.

Once this task had been completed, we headed either up to the cafeteria or down to the local shop for lunch. This free time gave us the opportunity to converse with some participants from schools in the surrounding area. It was great to hear about their ideas and their struggles throughout the project...some consolation for ourselves & the problems we were faced with :)

Then we all headed back to our individual stands, were introduced to the three judges & waited in anticipation for our turn to be interviewed. Finalizing what we would speak about and contemplating possible questions which could arise, was quite nerve-racking, but paid off in the end...we were able to make some last minute decisions on what we should & shouldn't include & the order of who would talk & when.

The three interviews were fairly challenging, but I think we tackled them very well as a team, everybody got to say their bit & as far as we could see...the judges were impressed...well at least we hoped so.

Many awards were given out, including a judges prize for "Just Desserts" and our group "Knot a Problem," came runner up in the semi-final. It was a great victory for the whole of transition year, and ultimately, the whole school community.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of the project; both the ups and the downs. I believe it has really helped us all to grow in maturity, confidence and independence, both as a team, and as individuals. The skills we learned throughout the course of this mini-company project, are so unique & so critical in all aspects of every day life & ones we will carry with us through school life & far beyond. It really was one of the most challenging, memorable and satisfying activities in the TY syllabus.