1 March 2015
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
On Wednesday AIB today announced the winners of the Cork regional
final of the AIB Build a Bank Challenge.
Over 30 schools took part in the Cork Regional Final event which was
held in the Silversprings Hotel.
The winning schools are:
· Ursuline Secondary School
· Cistercian College
· Colaiste An Phiarsaigh
· Presentation Secondary School
St Aidan’s Community was presented with the Best ‘Digital Bank’ Award
by Gillian Haran (CoderDojo). These students excelled at running their
school bank by embracing the use of digital technology and will
progress to the National Final along with the other four top winning
schools. The judges also gave a special mention to the Best Newcomer –
St. Mary’s Secondary School and to students at Davis College who won
the Community Outreach Award for their dedication of time and
resources to benefit their local community.
AIB Youth Ambassador, Colm Cooper, who was present at the Regional
Final, said: “The students were outstanding again this year and the
standard of the presentations was extraordinarily high, which made the
judging task very tough. It was evident from the students’ enthusiasm
and imagination that they worked extremely hard throughout the
project. On behalf of the judges I would like to congratulate all the
schools who participated in the AIB Build a Bank Challenge Regional
Final and I would like to wish the students all the very best in the
National Final in April.”
The competition, which is now in its 13thyear, sees secondary school
students operate their own school bank during the school year.
For the past five months Transition and 5th Year students have been
running their own school bank, with the support of their AIB Student
Officer, and at the same time learning about managing their own
business.
All Ireland winning Cork footballer Colm O’Neill and basketball
superstar Grainne Dwyer were also present on the day to welcome the
audience and to offer their support to the students.
The National Final takes place in the RDS Dublin on the 16th April,
where the National Finalists will go head to head and one school will
be crowned the AIB Build a Bank Champions and receive the top prize of
€5,000
