21 May 2010
Youngsters pitch their big ideas on the planet
Young entrepreneurs from the Yorkshire and Humber region visited the University of Sheffield yesterday (19 May 2010) as part a Dragon´s Den style event.
The event saw teams of school children present their big ideas and solutions for issues that impact on today´s society, economy and the environment as part of the semi final heat of Solutions for the Planet competition 2010.
Hosted by Partners in Innovation Ltd and the University of Sheffield, the event saw teams of young people pitching their ideas to judges and the audience, who then had the opportunity to question each team about the viability of their idea.
11 teams of young people aged 11-15 pitched ideas such as producing a cookbook, which would include global recipes provided by local cafes and restaurants, and aim to raise funds for farmers in Africa. Another group worked on a campaign entitled `AID Trade´, which aimed to raise awareness about AIDS through teams of young people passing on the facts to others and breaking down any existing negative stereotypes.
The winning team, from High Storrs School in Sheffield, devised a campaign entitled `Beauty is Unique,´ initially aimed at young girls to build their confidence and help them feel happy about who they are. Their idea was to hold a fun photo shoot to capture pictures of girls which they would then use in a poster and web-based campaign. Their website would encourage girls to upload their pictures and state how their beauty is unique. In the long term, they hoped to encourage fashion magazines to include a wider range of models.
The team of 6 girls attended the final of the competition at the Palace of Westminster on 5 July 2010.
Jessie Drabble, aged 14 from Bradfield School, was part of the AID Trade group. She said: "We´ve had a great day and found it really interesting to put together our ideas for this campaign. Our idea was based on giving the facts about AIDS to other young people. We thought if the idea was coming from us, people our age would be more likely to take notice of what we were saying."
Elizabeth Ward, a 3rd year Architecture and Engineering Design student from the University of Sheffield, was part of the judging panel. She said: "The pupils´ presentation skills were unbelievable. We were really impressed with all the presentations, and I think it shows what a difference they can make from such a young age. All the innovative ideas were great, and the winning team really blew us away." Notes for Editors: The schools that took part in the day included: High Storrs School, Birley Community College, Bradfield School, Ingleton School, and Oakwood Technology College.
The winning team was `Beauty is Unique´ from High Storrs School. Runners up in 2nd place were `Close Connections´ from High Storrs School, and in joint 3rd place `Fun Lunch´ from Birley Community College and `AID trade´ from Bradfield School.
For further information please contact: Lauren Anderson, Media Relations Officer, on 0114 2221046 or email l.h.anderson@sheffield.ac.uk
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