Dragons' Apprentice Winners Announced!
St Albans and Harpenden schools raise £15,761 for local charities 17 March 2011 –
The winning school teams in the 2011 Dragons’ Apprentice challenge were announced last night at the finals and award ceremony held at the University of Hertfordshire. Starting with just £100 each and the help of a local business mentor, 12 teams of budding entrepreneurs from St Albans and Harpenden schools managed to raise a total of £15,761 for local charities in just five months.
At last night months event, the finalists lined up to present their results to a panel of SuperDragons made up of local business, charity and industry experts. With an incredible £2,676, the team that won the award for raising the most money was Amelia Sweeney, Chloe Williams, Kirsty Seymour and Molly Pearson from St Albans Girls School (STAGS), with the help of their mentor Luke Harrison from Debenhams Ottaway. A cheque for all the money raised, through projects ranging from making and selling flower arrangements to organising raffles, was handed over to Sally Patterson from the team’s chosen charity, HomeStart St Albans & District. The STAGS team also won the award for the best charity awareness campaign.
The Cougars team from St Columba’s Collage won the award for the most innovative fund raising idea for its Harpenden Spotlight on Africa charity, by arranging an African themed evening complete with steel band and wildebeest meat.
The award for best presentation went to the ‘Planning for the Future’ team from St George’s School in Harpenden; while St Albans Beaumont School won the award for best poster. The teams won prizes including: a prestigious trophy for the winning school and gifts from Deloitte, work experience with the University of Hertfordshire and BAM Construct; coaching in job search with Kids2work; and presentation technique training, plus a starring role in a promotional You Tube video produced by Archimedes Consulting.
The awards were presented by Cllr Maxine Crawley, Mayor of St Albans City & District and announced by Julie Newlan, Pro Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Business School at University of Hertfordshire who headed up the panel of SuperDragon judges, including Daniel Goodwin, Chief Executive of St Albans City & District Council; Graham Lane, President of St Albans District Chamber of Commerce; and Laura Cronshaw, Chief Executive of St Albans Centre for Voluntary Service. “To raise almost £16,000 for very worthy causes is a tremendous achievement and we were all extremely impressed by the enthusiasm, innovation, business sense and sheer hard work displayed by all the teams,” said Julie Newlan.
This is the second year of the Dragons’ Apprentice challenge, aimed to encourage young people to become more aware and involved with their local voluntary sector. Any schools, businesses or charities that are interested in taking part in Dragons’ Apprentice 2012 should contact Wendy Henrys, CVS Information Officer at wendy@cvsstalbans.org.uk.