On Friday 27th November, two teams from the school travelled to The Odyssey in Belfast to compete in the Northern Ireland Final of the ‘Make Your Mark Challenge 2009’.

St Columb's pupils in the Northern Ireland Final of the ‘Make Your Mark Challenge 2009’.

During Enterprise week the teams had been provided with an enterprise challenge and had a limited time in which to complete it. The challenge involved coming up with a ‘cool’ creation to make money and contribute positively towards the environment. Students had to produce a business plan which included market analysis and financial planning for their idea. Our Year 12 team (Ciaran Brown, Daniel Allen, Ruairi McKeevar, Mark Tourish and Barry Carton) came up with the idea of a jewellery range made from paper. Our Year 14 team (John Coyle, Jason McCallion, Odhran Logue, Robert Guthrie and Conor O’Neil ) proposed a concert to launch a ‘green festival’ in Derry. On Monday 23rd November, the Year 14 team were announced winners of the North Western regional heat while the Year 12 team also qualified for the final as runners up in their age group. They were given until Wednesday 25th November to prepare a powerpoint presentation for the Northern Ireland Final.

Both teams then took their proposals to the Northern Ireland Final which was held in W5 in the Odyssey, Belfast. The teams had to present their ideas to a judging panel and in front of all the other finalists. Unfortunately, although the ideas and presentations were excellent, the College teams were not successful in picking up the top prize on this occasion. However, the students all enjoyed the experience and were awarded shopping voucher prizes for their efforts.