On Saturday Andrea joined 15-17 year olds from across the Leeds area, including pupils from Rodillian Academy and Morley Academy at the Dragon’s Den Pitch.
The Pitch is part of the National Citizen Service (NCS) summer 2016 programme with The Challenge. Young people in the Leeds district spent two weeks taking part in activities to build confidence and resilience while developing trust and relationships with their new team mates. As part of the challenge they are encouraged to consider how they can have a positive impact on their community, they spent a further week researching and planning a social action project before facing the Dragon’s.
The Dragon’s Den Pitch was their opportunity to present a strategy to achieve the goals they had set for themselves. Each team could be awarded up to £50 with one team winning £100 to make their idea a reality.
Joined Winners were announced as Team Edwards and Team Perham each receiving £75. Team Edwards have created Media Minorities, they aim to spread awareness of the underrepresentation of ethnic minorities in the media. Team Perham are a Stop The Stigma group campaigning to end the stigma surrounding mental health issues.
Andrea said:
“I was thrilled to be on the panel, they all did a fantastic job presenting their ideas and came up with some brilliant proposals to help their community groups.
“NCS do a magnificent job working with young people to help them build confidence and learn to flourish outside of their comfort zone.
“As a panellist I would not have guessed that only 3 weeks ago none of them new each other. It is evident from their thoughtful ideas and enthusiasm that bringing people together from different ages and backgrounds can make a huge difference in connecting people with their local community.”