Students from the Harrison Centre for Social Mobility in Sunderland took centre stage this week and showed off their entrepreneurial and creativity and skills at the fifth annual Harrison Prize.
The Harrison Prize is a key component of the studies that take place at the Harrison Centre for Social Mobility in Sunderland aimed at helping to prepare the learners, who are aged 16 years old, for the world of work.
As part of the prize the learners were challenged to create a presentation about a piece of technology that they like and enjoy using and to work in teams to identify ways that they think the technology could be made even better.
In a twist this year, the judges decided to take the learners out of their comfort zone and to present their ideas at Newcastle financial technology business, True Potential.
As part of the visit, the learners had the opportunity to tour the fintech firm’s state-of-the-art HQ, meet some of the 500 employees and discover some of the job opportunities that are available.
The judges were hugely impressed with all of the presentations, which included technology ranging from robots to gaming platforms and apps.
Harrison Foundation trustee and True Potential Chief Executive, Daniel Harrison, said: “As a financial technology business at True Potential, we’re always looking for new innovations, new ideas and ways to improve existing services, so it was really great to see the learners step out of their world and into ours.
“They all did fantastic. The presentations were great, so I just want to say a huge well done to all of the learners and of course to their tutors as well at the Harrison Centre. Well done everybody.”