Five of our Transition Year students, Zac Wallace, Marcus Conroy, Alex Healy, Taha Siddique, and Ahmed Baig recently returned from a once in a lifetime trip to attend the Global Business Academy programme run by Colorado State University. The trip was sponsored by the OtterCares Foundation, part of OtterBox as the winners of the Cork City Student Enterprise programme.

Over ten days the students were part of a group of 50 participants from 13 countries who completed a packed programme with a mix of team building activities, company visits and an enterprise challenge. Among the activities the students took part in were white water rafting, stand up paddle boarding, rock climbing and a high ropes course in the university’s Mountain Campus at the edge of the Rocky Mountains. 

Students took part in an enterprise challenge where they worked in teams to learn about entrepreneurship, leadership and how to go from customer discovery to start up. Students met a range of top executives from a variety of companies in media, healthcare, finance and retail. 

One highlight of the trip was a tour of the OtterBox headquarters in Fort Collins where they got a tour of the offices including the testing, prototyping and design areas. They were warmly welcomed by the founders of OtterBox, Kurt and Nancy Richardson who hosted a lunch for the students. Each of the five students were assigned a table to sit with executives from all levels of OtterBox where the students talked through their entrepreneurial journey and the creation of their winning Comhar Cards product. 

Feedback was very positive from the executives and the students were great ambassadors for their school and the student enterprise programme. 

Well done and congratulations again to Zac, Marcus, Alex, Taha and Ahmed on their achievements with Comhar Cards. Special thanks to their teacher Ms. Karen Callanan for her support, encouragement and for accompanying them on their visit to Colorado.