Students put their business skills to the test

A TEAM of RGS students who launched their own youth magazine impressed judges at a prestigious competition final.

The budding journalists showcased their publication, Green Thoughts, at the Young Enterprise Harrogate, Skipton and Ripon area final, where they won the award for best customer service.

Having produced an impressive trade stand and business report and accounts, the girls were interviewed by judges at the event and went on to confidently present an assured business pitch to the audience.

"This is a fantastic achievement," said Young Enterprise coordinator Mr Walker. "I am so proud of their efforts, they produced an amazing product and their presentation was excellent."

Green Thoughts operations director Leora Zucker said: “This experience was really inspiring for me. As someone who has never taken part in such an event, I feel I gained confidence and learned a lot, picking up skills I can use in future, such as improving my public speaking.”

The unique selling point of their magazine, she said, was that it is made by teenagers for teenagers: “It’s full of creative, inspiring, fun and educational articles allowing young people to escape the pressures of their daily lives and to have a larger awareness of what is going on in the world.”

She said: “Our interrogation from the panel of judges from the world of business required us to have an in-depth understanding of the inner workings of our business to fully understand their questions and answer appropriately.

“This was difficult, as we had minimal warning as to what the questions could be, but ended up going well, with us confidently answering all the questions posed to us.”

They were up against stiff competition from three other schools: “Finally, we had the business pitch in front of the judges and our fellow competitors. This was nerve-racking and required a large amount of fake-it-till-you-make-it confidence.

“But, in the end, we delivered a strong presentation, representative of the large amount of effort we had sunk into preparing.

“Whilst we did not win overall, we still came away with the community service award, a credit to the service our product gives to the community. But, more than that, we gained a new-found understanding of how to operate a business and work well and cohesively in a team.

“We forged friendships and, most importantly, created a product which we can be proud to call ours.”

.*The Young Enterprise Scheme, backed by volunteers from local companies, provides young people aged 15-19 years old with the opportunity to set up and run their own business while they are still at school.

The Green Thoughts team

Managing director- Aria Writer

Administration director- Leora Zucker

Operations director- Antonia Price

Marketing director-Chola Malama

Sales director-Jenny He

Finance director- Tiggy Munyard

Human resources director- Amelia Collingwood-Cooper