A team of students has scooped top awards at an industry-led project judged at Amazon’s head office.
The youngsters aged 16 to 18 years old from Barking and Dagenham College triumphed after an eight-week challenge run by the skills organisation the Career Colleges Trust.
The project brief given to the students and competitors from colleges BMet, Coleg Gwent and Westminster Kingsway was to develop a digital solution to promote youngsters’ physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.
Students presented their ideas in the final on Wednesday.
The judges were particularly impressed by the students’ own experiences of mental health issues.
Barking and Dagenham College’s teams scooped the Best Run Project and Best Solution prizes.
Individual prizes were awarded to the college’s Sophie Habberley and Oliver Crew who won the Alan Livett Award for being a good role model.
Students had two project meetings with a client during the eight weeks, focusing on issues, design, finance and the project plan.
Representatives from Career Colleges Trust, AWS and Samaritans sat on the project board, joined by representatives from UK Active, London Sport and the Marylebone Cricket Club on the judging panel.
Digital lead for the Career Colleges Trust, Julia Von Klonowski, said: “The standard of the presentations and indeed the solutions themselves were of an incredibly high standard.
“A high level of professionalism shone through and I think many of the students have surprised themselves in terms of how far they have come in just eight weeks.
“I hope the students are inspired to continue working hard; I have no doubt that each one of them has an exciting career ahead. Congratulations to our winners and to everyone else who has worked so hard.”
The winning team was presented with Echo Dots from AWS. Other winners were awarded with visits and work shadowing. All students received certificates.
IT student Jessica Kelleher, 18, from Dagenham was part of the team awarded a prize for the Best Run project.
Jessica said: “I found this project to be so inspirational. I’ve learnt about new digital techniques as well as understanding more about mental health issues and the work of the Samaritans.
“I was so nervous about public speaking but having presented my ideas to so many people, I now feel much more confident.”
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