Lucy Champ and Aoife Bolger.

Moate students take award in National Student Enterprise final

Students from Moate Community School have taken third prize in the Junior Category at the National Final of this year’s Student Enterprise Programme. The finals of the Local Enterprise Office initiative were broadcast virtually today from Croke Park with An Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and Ambassador Derval O’Rourke speaking with host RTE’s Rick O’Shea, as students and teachers watched on from across the country.

Supported by Local Enterprise Office Westmeath, Lucy Champ and Aoife Bolger from ‘Wreaths by Occasion’ at Moate Community School took third place in the overall Junior Category. The business creates custom made wreaths for all occasions.

There were 72 student enterprises competing in this year’s National Final in what is Ireland’s largest entrepreneurship programme for second level students. The initiative, funded by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland and delivered by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities throughout the country, saw 29,000 students from almost 500 secondary schools across the country take part.

An Tánaiste, Leo Varadkar, who took part in the ceremony, congratulated the students today; “Congratulations to not only the finalists being recognised here today, but to everyone who took part in the competition. To be a finalist in the Student Enterprise Programme is a fantastic achievement in normal times and its incredible given everything that’s happened this past year. Everyone who took part should be very proud of all that they have achieved. Special mention to their teachers, parents and all those who helped them along the way. The ability to create an idea, turn it into a business and to run that business is a skill that will be invaluable later in life. Ireland has a proud history of entrepreneurship and no doubt those here today will all go on to achieve great things. Government will back you every step of the way.”

Praising the winning students and all those representing Westmeath at the National Finals, Head of Enterprise at LEO Westmeath, Christine Charlton said: “This is a proud day for student enterprise in Westmeath. We would like to congratulate the students, their families and their teachers at Moate Community School on winning this national award in Croke Park. We would also like to pay tribute to all the other finalists and participants from Westmeath who are impressive ambassadors for student enterprise in the county.”

The National Finalists, who competed across three categories, Junior, Intermediate and Senior, saw judging take place virtually via electronic submissions. Each student enterprise was challenged with creating, setting up and running their own business, which must show sales of their service or product. The judging panel included business owners and representatives from enterprise agencies and associated bodies.