Gen2 apprentices have been showcasing their skills to help celebrate National Apprenticeship Week, which ran from 4th to 8th March.
Over 250 Gen2 apprentices have taken part in a number of challenges set to test their engineering and entrepreneurial skills.
An impressive 38 teams from across Gen2 centres in Workington, Carlisle and Furness have been completing challenges which were showcased at the Gen2 Grand Final on Friday 8th March.
The challenges covered:
Interactive kit challenge in which the apprentices were tasked with designing an interactive game which can be used during school talks and careers days to engage young people in engineering;
9Volt battery challenge in which the apprentices were tasked with creating the most innovative item powered only by 9Volt batteries;
Entrepreneurial challenge in which the apprentices were given a starting budget of £250 and had to develop a sustainable business with profits going to a local charity;
Engineering sculpture which was designed to showcase the engineering abilities of the Gen2 learners
Almost 400 people attended the Grand Final ceremony at Gen2’s Head Office in Workington, with many senior people from local businesses and local authorities supporting the students.
The Gen2 entrepreneurial challenge teams have raised over £5,000 for a range of charities: CFM Cash for Kids; The Samaritans; Blood Bikes; Alzheimer’s West Cumbria; WCH Special Care Baby Unit; West Cumbria Hospice at Home and Parkinsons West Cumbria.
The winning entrepreneurial team was the team who raised over £1,300 for Parkinson’s West Cumbria by developing a business which sold interactive information packs to schools to help raise awareness of Parkinson’s Disease.
Paul Storey, Gen2’s Managing Director said “National Apprenticeship Week is extremely important to Gen2 as it provides a great opportunity to bring together our learners from across the county, showcase their skills and celebrate their achievements with our apprentice employers.
The apprentices invest many hours to develop their challenge entries and have a real sense of personal pride in what they produce. The challenges provide an ideal platform to work in teams across their disciplines and help them understand about budgeting, sourcing resources, time management, production and presentation skills.
This year was our largest ever Grand Final and it was rewarding to see our challenge teams, supported by so many employers. The skills our learners have showcased today are testament to their hard work and dedication to their apprenticeships and clearly demonstrate that through employer investment we will continue to have a highly qualified and skilled workforce in the local area for years to come.”
