NATIONAL AWARD FOR LEITRIM STUDENTS AT ENTERPRISE FINALS

Students from Drumshanbo Vocational School, County Leitrim scooped two awards at this year’s Student Enterprise Programme National Finals for ‘Most Effective Use of Social Media’ and they took first prize in the overall Junior Category which was an amazing achievement. The Finals of the Local Enterprise Office initiative took place on Friday the 5th of May in Croke Park.

Supported by Local Enterprise Office Leitrim, the winning students in the Junior Category were Freya Whitney, Alexandra O'Looney and Amy Keaveney from Drumshanbo Vocational School, who worked under the guidance of their teachers, Yvonne Traynor and Sharon Feeney.

Their student enterprise was called Handled With Hearts and they produce a farm safety lifting mechanism called the Grasper, which helps a farmer to open the lid of a slatted tank in a safe way.

The Grasper is a wonderful, innovative product which is a game changer for health and safety on the farm. Handled with Hearts also won a second national award for ‘Most Effective Social Media Campaign’ which was a fantastic achievement.

There were 82 student businesses in contention across three main categories for the Final in what is Ireland’s largest entrepreneurship programme for second level students.

The initiative, funded by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland and delivered by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities throughout the country, saw 25,000 students from almost 500 secondary schools across the country take part.

In the Intermediate Category first place went to Clip Clop Designs – Moyne Community School, Longford.