A team from Budehaven Community School in North Cornwall have triumphed in an annual competition at the University of Plymouth.
Year 12 students from across the South West put their business brains to the test in the Business Presentation Competition organised by the Plymouth Business School and the Futures Entrepreneurship Centre.
It gave them the opportunity to work alongside student ambassadors to improve their presentation, communication and team-working skills, preparing a 10-minute briefing on a topical issue of their choice, with the only guidelines being that it had to be under one of four subject headings – Sustainability, Technology, Logistics or Entrepreneurship.
This year, the resulting presentations covered a wide range of topics including:
- Plymouth Studio School talked about the power of Facebook and how it is used for advertising;
- Marine Academy Plymouth researched and delivered a presentation on the impact of contactless cards;
- Colyton Grammar School researched driverless cars and how contactless payments effect the UK economy;
- Budehaven Community School explored the impact and effect of multinational companies on the environment; and
- Liskeard School and Community College talked about the forecast for electric cars and their technology and impact.
The presentations were then judged by a panel consisting of Dr Hilary Duckett, Director of Plymouth Business School; Andy Phippen, Professor of Social Responsibility in IT; Dr Virginia Fisher, Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer) in Human Resource Studies; Dr Sarah Tuck, Lecturer in Maritime Business; Judith Reynolds, Project Director of the Social Enterprise UEN; Toby Wilson, Outreach and Recruitment Officer.
The winning team of Will Atkinson, Charlie Barratt, Tom Mitchell Ford and Conor Stripe from Budehaven won four £50 Amazon vouchers, with a team from Colyton coming second a winning four £25 Amazon vouchers, and third place of four £10 Amazon vouchers also going to a team from Budehaven.
Dr Hilary Duckett said:
“For this year’s competition, we had over 40 Year 12 students and the presentations were exceptional. The winning team from Budehaven delivered a well-researched empirical piece which reviewed the corporate social responsibility strategies of four multi-nationals. This type of activity is essential for the School to promote our curriculum and values by reaching out and targeting high achieving schools.”
Laura Goodwin, Leader of Learning of Business Studies at Budehaven, said:
“The competition was a really useful activity for students to take part in, as it developed understanding of some key issues and questions we explore in lessons. It also enabled students to hone their presentation skills and improve their confidence levels. I was really proud of how the students managed the brief, worked as a team and of course their final presentations. To have two teams finish in the top three was an amazing achievement for the students and the school.”