ENTERPRISE A taste of success N

Winning ways: From the idea and testing (top left and left) to the creation and market- ing (right), Team McKarmis (above) impressed at the Scottish finals of the Coca Cola Enterprise Challenge with their pitch for a new soft drink called Twist n Shake. They went on to compete in the UK finals narrowly losing out on the grand prize. They described the experience as ‘pure dead brilliant’

Earlier this year, a group of students from Calderglen High School in East Kilbride won their way through to the UK finals of the annual Coca Cola Enterprise Challenge. Here, their teacher Susan McNeil describes the journey

to help students develop skills for work – teamwork, creativity, organisation and presentation skills. This was the first time Calderglen High had participated and two members of staff, Joanne Young and myself, offered to facilitate the challenge, asking for volunteers from one of the S3 administration classes. Seven students were eager to take up the challenge

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to create a new, sugar-free fruit-flavoured soft drink in an eco-friendly drinks container and prepare a multimedia presentation of their new drink. The team consisted of Jennifer Agnew, Laura Carbery, Fiona Irving, Sarah Millar, Kaity Robinson, Nikki Rowan, and Courtney Smith. Each member of the team took on a business

role – from managing director to design assistant to finance manager – dependent on their skills. Even in this early stage it was evident that the team, known as “McKarmis”, was energised and passionate to succeed. The team met for working lunches to put together

the multimedia presentation for their drink, called Twist n Shake, which was then submitted for judging to decide the regional finalists. Their first taste of success came when their

presentation won them a place in the Scottish final, held in the Glasgow Science Centre. At this event the competing teams spent the day working as a mini-business creating a sample of their drink, a prototype container, and a sales pitch which they presented to a panel of judges. The teams were

TUDENTS FROM Calderglen High School in East Kilbride, a six-year comprehensive secondary school in South Lanarkshire, were crowned Scottish winners of the Determined to Succeed Coca-Cola Enterprise Challenge earlier this year.

The Coca Cola Enterprise Challenge was organised

marked on a variety of areas including research, design, finance, creativity and teamwork. McKarmis was commended for their investigative work prior to the event and for developing a strong marketing campaign for the product. The Calderglen team was thrilled when they were

crowned the Scottish winners of the challenge. Their prize for winning was two-fold – a visit

to the Design School of the Glasgow Metropolitan College where they worked alongside Eddie Carr, who specialises in model-making, to design their prototype bottle. This was a really interesting experience seeing the different stages of the design process from their original design on paper to the prototype of the finished bottle. Their second visit was to Lateral Line Creative

Services based in Glasgow. Stewart Kennedy, head of creative, shared his expertise in design to turn their marketing ideas and visions into reality. The team loved the opportunity of working in the boardroom of

real business is full on and hard work, and that while you have to do lots of planning, it is really rewarding’. Another said that her creative skills had improved as a result of the challenge

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the business and at the end of visit they were thrilled to show off their bottle labels and their high quality colour posters. These business experiences have been invaluable and without

a doubt have given the students an

insight into the business world and in particular to the production process and the marketing of an individual product.

Working alongside these creative and enterprising

professionals, the students were able to witness at first hand ideas being put into action, how decisions are made and appreciate the need for setting deadlines. One of the team, commenting on the experience,

said: “I know for the future that real business is full on and hard work, and that while you have to do lots of planning, it is really rewarding”. Another said that her creative skills had improved as a result of the challenge. The final accolade was when the team were invited

as Scottish champions to compete against regional winners from across the UK in The Real Business Challenge, which was held in the Tate Modern in London in March. The team was involved with the planning of their business trip, they set the itinerary to include transport and accommodation which tied in with their curriculum work in school and so they were able to bring a real-life scenario into the classroom. When the team arrived at the Tate Modern they were

overwhelmed by the meeting room overlooking the Thames where they were carrying out their challenge.

One of the team, commenting on the experience, said: ‘I know for the future that The five regional teams were

tasked with generating ideas for the design, marketing, distribution and production of a new soft drink to be launched during the 2012 Olympics.

They enjoyed the whole experience of being

mentored by business professionals who provided them with expert advice, including television apprentices Kate Walsh and Claire Young. The day also gave the students their first experience

of being interviewed on camera. Their final task was for the teams to present their findings in the form of a sales pitch to local business people as well as cabinet ministers and other dignitaries. No easy task for 13 to 14-year-olds! All the teams presented to a high standard and were

very innovative in their delivery. When the judges, who included Pete Henshaw, editor of SecEd, along with Ed Balls, the former education minister, questioned the students, they commented on the standard of the responses. Congratulations go to Park View Academy in London, who were the national winners. There is no doubt that the Calderglen team had an

experience of a lifetime and the skills they have gained over these months will equip them not only in their education but in their future employment. It has given them a small insight into the business world and I know that a number will be keen to follow this career path. At the national finals, all the teams were asked to

sum up their new drink in three words, Calderglen’s team McKarmis responded in the only way any Glaswegian could – “pure dead brilliant!” – as was their experience of the whole business challenge! SecEd

• Susan McNeil is faculty head of business studies and computing at Calderglen High School in East Kilbride.

Further information

For more information on the Coca Cola Enterprise Challenge and the company’s education centres across the UK, including at its factory in East Kilbride, visit www.cokeeducation.co.uk

SecEd • August 26 2010

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