First Trust Youth Ambassador and Kerry GAA legend, Colm ‘Gooch’ Cooper visited St Paul’s on Monday 20 January 2014 as part of this years’ First Trust School Bank Challenge.

This competition is one of the largest schools competitions in Ireland.

The First Trust School Bank was set up in St Paul’s in October 2013.  The key personnel were interviewed for the posts by the school’s First Trust Link Officer, Coleen McMurray.

The school bank team comprises; Manager – Oisin Groom, Assistant Manager – Lauren Warde, Auditor – Darren McClory, Marketing and Sales Manager – Shannon McCabe, Tellers are Ryan Clarke, Colman Burns, Deirbhile Teggart and Bronagh Ryan.

The bank is open for business every Thursday lunchtime. This team of eight Year 13 Applied Business students get involved in every aspect of banking including; sourcing new customers, opening First Trust Bank Accounts, encouraging regular savings and exploring new ways to bank such as Mobile and Online Banking.

Colm spoke to the school bank team in the boardroom outlining his role as the Youth Ambassador, indicating how the programme is a great way for students to develop key business and entrepreneurial skills in a fun and interactive way.

They also discussed tactics for the forthcoming competitions which will be held in Belfast and Dublin. He emphasised the need for positive mental attitude in this competition and as a lifeskill.

The entrepreneurial skills gained from participating in this challenge include:

• Money management

• Key business skills

• Marketing techniques

• Literary skills

• Interpersonal skills

• Interview techniques

• Customer services skills

• Leadership and teamwork

• Technology skills

• Presentation skills

Background to the competition:

There are 16 schools entered for the Northern Ireland final which will take place 14th March 2014; the prizes are  –

Individual team members prize

1st place                      Google Nexus 7 (16GB)
2nd place                     Kindle Fire (8Gb)
3rd place                      Kindle
4th place                      TBA

School Prize

1st place                      £1000

2nd place                     £750
3rd place                      £500
4th place                      TBA

The top 4 schools from the Northern Ireland final will go through to the overall final in The RDS in Dublin which will be held on 3rd April.
The prizes for the overall final are –

Individual team members prize

1st place                      A Tablet
2nd place                     250 Euro voucher ( can be spent in a number of shops)
3rd place                      150 Euro vouncher (can be spent in a number of shops)

School Prize

1st place                      5000 Euro
2nd place                     3000 Euro Technology voucher
3rd place                      2000 Euro Technology voucher

This is the 2nd year of the competition in Northern Ireland and the first time St Paul’s has entered a team so we wish them every success.

After the meeting with the First Trust School Bank members Colm met with both our MacRory Gaelic team, and our U20 Girls football team who are in the Ulster final next Tuesday.

The U20 Girls were treated to a training session with the Kingdom legend and he put them through their paces with kicking, catching and various other exercises.

Below images from Colm Coopers visit.