On Wednesday 6th March at the Palace Hotel, the Junior Achievement (JA) Competition took place, with St. Ninian’s entering 8 teams of Year 12 students. This had been what the pupils had been working towards throughout the year and was a wonderful opportunity to showcase their products.
The day started with the students being asked to deliver their presentations not to only the JA judges, but to their peers who had also entered the competition. SNHS had some wonderful entries with a special mention to the group ZETA for their innovative presentation which featured an original song of theirs which captured the entire room.
The trade stand then followed where each group had to design their own stall and then had the opportunity to the sell their products to the general public in the afternoon. Each trade stand was fantastic in their own individual way, with there being some really nice feedback not only from the judges, but the various teachers and students who were involved.
The day then came to a climax with the group interviews and individual interviews for the ‘Inspirational Team Leader Awards’ and ‘Outstanding Team Member Award’ with SNHS students Caitlin from Imperium and Justin from Res Novae, being shortlisted for these awards.
The students then attended the JA Awards Ceremony on Wednesday 13th March at the Villa Marina where there were 11 awards available including the winner of the ‘HSBC Student Company of the Year Award’, with the winner being entered into the European Competition Finals taking place in France later in the year.
ZETA, made up of Kizzie, Annabel, Jay, Megan, Taylor, Jess and Hannah won 4 prizes including, ‘Celton Manx Special Recognition Award’, KPMG Award for Financial Excellence’, ‘JA Alumni Award for Student’s Choice’ and ‘Joint 3rd placed overall for their business which made and sold slime products. Suave Equanimity, including James, Jack, Jacob, Maria, Charley, Simran, Samvir and Maxx were also judging as ‘Joint 3rd placed overall’ for their product, Bloom, which encouraged customers to plant their pencils and grow mint once they had finished using them. Business mentor, Julie, also won ‘Mentor of the Year’ for her work with Res Novae.
The Business Education Department would like to say a massive well done to all of the students who were involved, and a special thank you to the JA mentors who gave up their own time to help coach the students throughout the year. Additionally, we would like to say a huge well done to everyone involved at Junior Achievement for their ongoing hard work to deliver such an excellent company programme.
