DSEN CEO Fergus Storrier has been working with a group of S5 pupils at Grove Academy during the past school as part of their Friday afternoon elective, which will result in all the pupils gaining and SCQF Level 6 merit which is the equivalent of a Higher.
The young people learned about social enterprise and focussed on a local need for young people in the Ferry area which was a youth facility. They were able to draw over 200 responses in a schools survey, take that information and form a plan to develop a local Ferry building at Castle Green Pavilion which is under the ownership of Dundee City Council. Whilst a mock exercise the youngsters now wish to take this further and have formed a group called Youth Inc who will continue under the guidance of Fergus.
This project has also led to a wider interest from schools and an event will take place at Dundee and Angus College on 9 June drawing together young people from across Dundee Secondary Schools. There will also be a fair where local TSI members can promote their work and possible employment opportunities etc to young people.
Fergus stated – “ It has been great to work with the young people and see their incredible enthusiasm to make positive changes in their area as well as their professional approach. They should be very proud of their work and I also look forward to the event in June where we can build on the success of this project and open young peoples eyes to the charity and social enterprise sector as jobs or volunteer opportunities of the future”
Comments below are from some of the young people involved in the project:
Hey y’all, I’m Micheal S. and a part of the youth inc. team. I joined this work experience, so that I could get hands on experience in the working in the real world. From this group project I have learned how to work well in a team, like when we encountered a problem or issue, we would work as a team to come up with a solution. I very much enjoyed working first hand work, instead of working from behind a desk. It has been one of the best learning experiences I have ever had just because of how hands on it were with the work. And the skills we have learned from it will help us throughout the rest of our careers.
Hi, my name is Elliot, and I am happy to say I worked together the on-group project Youth Inc. The reason I gravitated towards this project is because I want to study architecture down the line, and an exercise where I have to design a building based off of a target market and the local environment are the skills my desired job would require. Difficulties I found while working on the project was bringing together contrasting ideas into one product. For example: when bringing forward different ideas for a design it can be hard to gravitate with other people’s ideas because you don’t understand them as much as you understand your own concept. To solve this, we agreed to make compromises and have nonbiased mindsets when comparing ideas. As a result, our final design encompassed all of our ideas and overall was more practical. While working on this project I learned team communication, developed my creative thinking, and now have a broader understanding of how an idea like a youth centre can be brought to fruition.
Hey, I am Michael, and I am another member of the group project Youth Inc. In the project we have been tasked with planning a developing a youth centre in the Ferry. So far, we have found the castle green pavilion as our building of choice, and we had managed to create a floor plan based off of the feedback from our student survey. In the survey, we asked what they would like to see and have available to them in the centre. We got nearly 200 responses to the survey which is plenty more than I expected to be honest! In this project I have worked on my team building and teamwork skills. It’s has been very rewarding bringing this concept to reality. It also shows what young people can do when they put their minds together and work hard.
