Camán key to students success at Schools Enterprise award
March 6, 2014
A company set up in a hurling-mad school has won a top prize at a student enterprise competition for its camán-shaped keyrings customised with school, club, and county crests.
A team from another Cork school won the other main prize during this week’s Seachtain na Gaeilge for an Irish comic and CD about Cúchulainn and other legendary figures. For the four teenagers at Midleton CBS behind Hurling Hub, winners of the South Cork Schools Enterprise Programme, the choice of business venture was fairly simple. They designed hurley-shaped key rings, to which crests are added in production, and the school’s hurling tradition was a big influence.
“That’s really where we came up with the idea, the school being so sport-oriented, we thought it would be good to do something associated with sport,” explained company manager Kevin Moynihan. It also helped that the start-up last autumn coincided with Midleton’s path to a county senior hurling championship victory, so sales were strong for club-crested keyrings. With sales of more than €1,000 already achieved on the €2 keyrings — and the prospect of bringing production fully in-school instead of partly outsourced — they were on course for a win themselves going into the event earlier this week at University College Cork — where they also managed to make a pitch to supply college keyrings.
A desire to help primary pupils develop an interest in Irish language inspired the 14-member Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh mini-company Pulse. The lads from the Bishopstown school decided a comic book, Fadó Fadó, telling the stories of Cúchulainn — himself a legendary hurler — could help make learning Gaeilge more fun for children aged nine to 13. The stories are illustrated by the students themselves, and also feature tales of Tír na nÓg and Cúchulainn. The comic has glossaries for tough words and games to make it even more of an educational aid for pupils and teachers, and helping the product win the Cork City enterprise award. The two firms emerged from almost 50 who exhibited at a showcase of young innovators at the regional final at UCC. The college is offering mentorship to both ahead of their participation in the Student Enterprise national finals in Croke Park on April 2, where they will have a chance to add to the €2,500 in prizes provided by the South Cork and Cork City enterprise boards.
Other category winners this week included a number of teams from fellow-Midleton school St Colman’s Community College, from Kinsale Community College, Coláiste Choilm in Ballincollig, and Regina Mundi College in Douglas. Find more details about the two overall winning companies check out @HurlingHub and @PulseCSN on Twitter.
www.irishexaminer.com
