Project D gets an ‘A’ for GCSE treats
STUDENTS at a city school gave former pupils a heroes’ welcome when they popped up in the playground on GCSE results day – offering free ice creams for everyone.
Jacob Watts, Matthew Bond and Max Poynton met when they attended Chellaston Academy and have since gone on to create the doughnut company Project D.
The trio decided to send the company’s ice cream van, known as Project Whippy, to the school in Swarkestone Road to bring a smile to students’ faces – whether they had passed or failed their GCSEs.
It follows a successful visit to the academy by the company who last term gave a talk to 260 pupils about their journey from school to baking success.
Aimee Stratton, 16, said: “We all know that Project D’s founders went to Chellaston School and it’s good to know that students from this school move on into good careers.”
While 16-year-old Emmy Jones, said; “The ice cream is delicious and Project D are inspiring because they’ve achieved everything on their own.”
Project D’s Jacob Watts, who picked up two A*, three As, three Bs and two Cs, in his GCSEs said: “It doesn’t seem that long ago that we were picking up our results and so we thought we’d spread a few Project D sprinkles at our old school.
“We also wanted pupils to know that although it’s important to try hard in your exams, if you don’t get the results you were hoping for it really isn’t the end of the world.
“None of us studied food tech and I think we’ve done pretty well for ourselves – we’re delivering doughnuts across the UK, we’re picking up awards for being entrepreneurs and we’ve created jobs for around 100 people.
“We wanted to tell everyone that anything is possible with hard work and ambition. And an ice cream also makes everyone feel better.”