High school students learn essential skills of business

As part of the Project Business Programme, organised by Young Enterprise and supported by SX3, High School in north Belfast have spent the past ten weeks learning about business skills.

The fifth year students in St Gemma’s High School learnt how the economy works, the role of advertising, how to manage budgets, and how to look after their own personal finances, with the help of civil servants from the Internal Audit branch of the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety.

Marking the students’ achievement on completing of the project, the Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety, Bairbre de Brún, hosted a visit to Stormont, where the students were presented with certificates at a ceremony at Parliament Buildings.

The Head of Internal Audit at DHSS&PS, Derek Anderson, who led his branch’s involvement in the project, said: "Teaching over the past ten weeks at St Gemma’s has been both challenging and rewarding. I tried to make each of the lessons as interesting and interactive as possible and I feel that I have benefited as much as the students from the experience. This programme is very worthwhile, and presents an ideal opportunity for those like myself who have all the benefits of a secure and successful career to put something back into the local community."

Outlining the benefits of the Project Business Programme, Michele McKendry, Chief Executive of Young Enterprise, said knowing how the economic and political systems work was the first step students needed to create a bright future.

Project Business sessions involved practical and fun exercises aimed at reinforcing the message being delivered by a local businessperson. Ms McKendry said that students needed to be able to relate to concepts such as supply and demand, practical activities such as budgeting, and grasp the basics of how the business world worked. (SP)