We competed against 23 other teams who had been selected to attend the final, all battling it out to persuade the judges they were the best in a 4 minute pitch. This presentation was in response to a brief to identify, cost and market a new university campus in Asia for UCFB (University College Football & Business).

The team included Lauren Medway (creative director), Solene Imre (Marketing Director) and Oliver Swatton (Financial Adviser) ably led by Project Manager Melissa Brodie. Special mention also to Abigail Lewis who couldn’t attend the final, and James Frost for his photoshop wizardry. The team has worked incredibly hard over the past few months to refine their pitch and develop marketing assets including a 3-D printed bear (mascot), slogan, logo (Football in our Seoul) and supporting visual branding, social media campaigns and a rap-style YouTube advert. Not forgetting the extremely challenging task of costing up the establishment of a new academic college in an overseas location (in our case, Seoul in South Korea).

At the final yesterday, the competing schools and colleges all had to present in front of a panel of judges, following which 8 teams were taken forward to present again in front of everybody and the head judges including Nick Howe, Enterprise Manager at NatWest. After a nervous wait watching some great presentations from the finalists, HGSS was the last to be called up and delivered a brilliant, energetic and incredibly impressive performance, earning high praise from the judges for their confidence and mature presentation, the breadth of their ideas encompassing clear values including sustainability, the environment, innovation and targeted audiences. It was a very proud moment for myself (KS5 Support Officer) and Ms Kiss, our Enterprise Manager (and Head of Business & Computing) who has championed this challenge and of course our team all the way.

And in the overall result the judges awarded our team second place! What a fantastic result! Nick Howe tweeted “the team were a real credit to themselves and the college”. NSC has proved to be a fantastic, fun challenge, with students tasked to work together and develop new skills unlike those they normally encounter in the classroom.

Massive congratulations to Melissa, Lauren, Solene and Oli for representing themselves and our school so magnificently.

Mrs N Rogers, KS5 Support Officer