Young Apprentices told: You’re hired Mall bosses say high school pupils are the business
Fun-loving school students who took part in an Apprentice-style challenge at a shopping centre have seen their business idea become a reality.
Third-year pupils from Renfrew High School staged a Wipe Out Warrior event in Soar at intu Braehead at the weekend and all profits will be donated to the Classrooms for Malawi charity.
Shoppers were given the chance to take part in a fun contest where two people sit on a giant pole facing each other above an inflatable landing pad and they try to knock each other off using a pillow.
Whoever stayed on the longest went to the top of the leader board.
Competitors were asked to make a £1 donation to the pupils’ fundraising effort every time they had a go on Wipe Out Warrior.
The students also organised for a busker to provide entertainment.
The Apprentice-style challenge was a joint initiative between Renfrew High and intu Braehead as part of last year’s Retail Matters Week campaign.
After the winning team was told “You’re hired!” by intu Braehead’s operations manager Paul Lucas, it was revealed that staff from the retail and leisure destination would help the teenagers put their business idea into action.
Saturday’s event, which was organised and run by the pupils, was a hailed a success.
Paul said: “The students did a fantastic job from negotiating with the company Maximillion Events for the hire of equipment and marketing to using leaflets and social media.
“They also looked at how the event would operate, taking into account things like health and safety to attracting customers on the day and keeping financial records of sales.
“We were impressed when the students took part in the initial Apprentice- style challenge, but to see how they turned their idea into a reality – with a little help from ourselves – showed there are some budding entrepreneurs among the pupils.”
Billy Burke, headteacher at Renfrew High, added: “We are very proud of the efforts of the S3 team involved inn the Business Partnership Project with intu Braehead.
“They had a great experience last year and were very excited to be delivering their idea for real.”