Published: Wednesday, 10th March, 2010 5:30pm

Mind Your Manners say Athlone students

Pic by==: 97

A business idea with a social message by a team from Athlone Community College won the intermediate category at the Westmeath County Enterprise Board's Schools Enterprise Programme last Friday.

The 'Mind Your Manners' business team of Jack Quinn, Kevin Fitzpatrick, Conor Samuels and Conan Molloy from Transition Year in ACC will now represent Westmeath in the national finals in Dublin on April 27.

The boys are selling t-shirts, keyrings and wrist bands with slogans and pictures promoting their "campaign to improve manners" while also promoting anti-racism and anti-litter ideas. The merchandise contained slogans such as 'say no to racism', 'no name-calling' and 'no litter' or signs that were easy to interpret.

"We wanted to promote something good," said Jack. "In school we noticed that people were forgetting to put rubbish in bins, there's no respect for other students. We're trying to make a stand."

The boys carried out a survey to find out what people would pay for the merchandise and then set the prices. The €10 t-shirts were sold out last Friday which was not only a sign of the good value provided by the boys, but also how their campaign captured people's imaginations.

The boys agreed that the project was worthwhile, as they became better at IT, better at art and improved their team work abilities. Teacher Mr Martin was very proud of the boys' work and was delighted when the team got through to the national finals.

There was further success for Athlone schools, as a business from Our Lady's Bower came second in the Senior Category.

'Ready, Steady, Grow' by Grace Farrell, 16, Megan Hanlon, 15, and Nessa Hunt, 16, was about promoting healthy eating to kids.

The girls sell seeds along with an information park suitably designed for kids with jokes and puzzles. They want to promote the benefits of fruit and veg to children and were visiting primary schools in the Athlone area, sending information flyers home to parents and then selling the packets.

"We had a really hard time thinking about what sort of business we wanted to run, but we were inspired by a country living supplement in a newspaper, and saw a gap in the market," said Grace. "We're promoting healthy living and event the teachers are buying them!"

The girls said that they found that most gardening books are long winded and too boring for children, which is why their info packs were easy to read, colourful and fun.

They thanked teacher Aine Seery for her help and advice.

The transition year businesses were showcased last Friday in the Golden Island Shopping Centre where judges from the county enterprise board spoke to each team about the business idea itself, business plans, marketing and accounts.

Another Our Lady's Bower business, 'Nellie Jewels' was selling their original, handmade necklaces and jewellery.

Emma Stone, Edel Ryan, Lorna Mulvihill, Laura Dillon and Niamh Dooley. The name Nellie comes from all their initials together. "The name is catchy and easy to remember," said Emma. "The jewellery is dressy but simple."

The craft aspect took a long time for the girls to master, but they can now make a necklace in ten minutes! They sold a lot of the jewellery at Christmas and were doing a brisk trade for Mother's Day gifts. They have plans to expand the business and hope to even sell the jewellery in local shops.

"It's been very successful, we're really enjoying it even though it's hard work," they added.

Katie Dunne, Rebecca Frayne and Tori Henry with their business 'Get Your Gear Bags' were targeting sporty people.

They realised that many schools and sporting clubs in town did not have their own personalised sports bags. They order the bags from Caseys Sport and then put the school crest or club logo on the bag, along with the student's name. They went to different classes and took the order through a teacher. They have sold 117 bags to pupils from the Marist and the Bower and so far had made a healthy profit.

"The judges were very impressed," said Katie. "Our school didn't have a gear bag and now we want to expand it to other schools."

Summerhill students Mikaela O'Halloran and Orla Farrell tackled the recessionary problem of having to cut down on eating out!

'Dine in Opulence' offers a touch of class for those who have to cook at home instead of eating out, but still want something special. "Because of the recession, a lot of people are not eating out, but they still deserve the same setting and splendour," said Orla.

The girls have designed and made table mats, table runners and table clothes in a range of different sizes and colours, and can even make them up in a unique design of your choice. "It's going brilliant, generally we've found that women aged between 25 to 40 are buying them as predicted by our research," she added.

The judges liked their idea, but told them to charge more for the product, as it's very labour intensive. The girls said it takes around four hours to make the goods, from design to stencilling to painting and drying. "There is a demand for hand-crafted gifts," added Mikaela. They were guided by teachers Ms Shine and Ms Horgan.

'The Recessionary Guide to Healthy Living' from Summerhill students Grace Naughton and Sorcha McKinley also tackled the tightening budgets of households nowadays.

They've produced a booklet filled with tips and information on diet, exercise, recipes, ways to relax and a timetable to put it all together.

"We wanted to join a gym but realised it was very expensive, so we decided to do things at home ourselves and produce this guide," said Grace.

They researched all the information in the school library, the internet and also from some of their classes.

Overall, the girls have enjoyed their entrepreneur experience. "It's been a good experience," Grace added. "And we've learned things about ourselves as well."

A second team from ACC put their woodwork skills to good use.

'Handy Hanging' run by Chris Hurley and Philip Smullen, took a simple idea and made it better. They created wooden hangers and added on wooden pegs and pipe cleaners to make it easier for people to gather and hang stuff.

Chris said that sales were going well, especially with their target market of "mammies" and the judges were impressed with the idea. Their display included examples of using the hangers to keep small items of clothing, notes, and other items you can easily misplace all together in the one spot.

'Keep it Green' a business with five members; Oliver Milton, Mark Keenan, Mark O'Reilly, Josh Feery and Ryan Kelly, created a board game to educate children about the environment.

"It's like snakes and ladders and we thought it was the best way to educate kids about the environment," said Oliver.

Christine Charlton, CEO of WCEB, said that the judges were extremely impressed with the students' ideas and originality.

"Particularly in today's climate, it's very important to encourage kids to think outside the box and are capable of it," she said. "They've learned skills about setting up a business but these are also skills that will transfer to their personal life, like being organised and teamwork."

The national finals will take place in Croke Park on April 27 and the board is ever hopeful of a Westmeath winner out of 350 second level schools.

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