Pupils lead the way at the Enactus World Cup
Senior students from Arran High School have become the first in the UK, and possibly the world, to attend the Enactus World Cup.
Enactus is the international organisation that pairs entrepreneurship and philanthropy to develop sustainable and beneficial projects in communities. Predominantly, it has been for university students and business leaders but Glasgow Caledonian University contacted Arran High School and invited them to become a branch of their Enactus group.
When the Glasgow Caledonian Enactus team visited the school, the fifth and sixth years had a brainstorming session with them and together they complied a large list of issues that they felt needed addressed on Arran. The key priority they identified was to get young people and older people working together to challenge two issues that impact on both age groups: isolation and mental health.
Being new to the Enactus family, students at first did not fully understand what Enactus entailed, but after attending the annual World Cup it all became clear. Enactus is made up of 70,500 students from 1,700 universities in 36 countries. Each year they hold a World Cup, hosted all around the world, which 3,500 students, business, academic and government leaders attend. This year, for the first time, it was held in London and Chloe Brookes, Rachel Janse Van Rensburg, Jessica Miller, Natasha Murray and Lauren Robertson accompanied by Mrs Lesley Walker, were invited to attend.
Projects
The World Cup took place over three days with 36 Enactus teams from around the world presenting their projects to observers and judges, and explaining the impact they have had on their community, the changes they have made and what they are going to do next. One of the judges was Arran High School business adviser Jean McInnes.
After a series of engaging presentations, the original 36 teams were filtered down to the final four. The focus of the different teams was diverse, ranging from food security to sanitation to women’s empowerment and this gave the visiting group a valuable insight into the problems that affect the world.
In a statement, the Arran group said: ‘As young people we often have a need, a desire, to change the world and help. This couldn’t be more apparent at Enactus. By attending the World Cup we were able to really understand first-hand the incredible impact that these students are making around the world and the positive changes they are bringing to their communities. Their passion, dedication and enthusiasm were inspiring and definitely set the tone for our project. The atmosphere of the entire competition was amazing – the excitement, the need for change, the support everyone had for each other.
‘As new members to the Enactus family, we hope Arran High School can create a lasting impact and tackle the issues we feel need addressed with the same success and achievement we saw at the World Cup.’