Two team members from a Holywood-based cloud technology company recently partnered with Young Enterprise to deliver an educational programme to children at a nearby primary school.
3EN’s CEO, Dale Cree, and senior sales consultant Matthew McDowell joined forces with Young Enterprise, Northern Ireland’s leading enterprise education charity, to teach children at Holywood Primary School about how financial decisions impact families.
The 3EN team members took over the school’s two primary three classes for an hour per week throughout March to deliver a programme designed by Young Enterprise. Through the programme, children are encouraged to recognise the difficult decisions that families have to make to pay for wants and needs.
Speaking on the experience of teaching the programme, Matthew said: “I loved being part of Young Enterprise’s work in Holywood Primary School. Every pupil was so intelligent, creative, and curious about the world around them. I didn’t expect to be so challenged in my thinking by a group of eight-year-olds! They completely blew me away.”
3EN initially partnered with Young Enterprise in 2022, with the company’s recently promoted chief client relations officer Laura Blacklock and head of client services, Conor McDonnell, visiting the school’s primary three pupils to deliver the programme.
After hearing positive feedback from the school, 3EN decided to maintain its relationship with Young Enterprise and encourage different team members to get involved with the programme every year.
Following the month-long experience this March, Dale was also invited by Young Enterprise to run a workshop on design thinking with A-level students at Priory Integrated College.
Speaking on 3EN’s partnership with the schools through Young Enterprise, Dale said: “Young Enterprise is an excellent charity offering professionals across Northern Ireland the opportunity to teach and be taught by bright young minds in our local communities. It was a pleasure to meet the pupils at Holywood Primary School and students at Priory Integrated College who could someday be part of 3EN or the wider Northern Ireland workforce.
“I am a firm believer in the importance of lifelong learning and was pleased to be challenged by the quick-thinking and innovative problem solving of Holywood Primary School’s primary three pupils. Teaching for an hour each week tested my management skills and gave me the opportunity to hone my communication skills, pushing me to explain tasks in simple, understandable terms. I would like to thank Young Enterprise, Holywood Primary School and Priory Integrated College for the invaluable opportunities they provided for myself and Matthew.”
Mr Atcheson, a teacher from Holywood Primary School, said: “We appreciate the work of Young Enterprise and loved having Matthew and Dale from 3EN join to teach our primary three pupils the foundational concepts of money management. My class enjoyed hearing about the important roles that different family members play in households and in society, no matter what that family looks like, and put Matthew and Dale through their paces with questions about 3EN and working life. We look forward to welcoming more members of the 3EN team to the school in the future.”
Carol Fitzsimons, MBE, CEO of Young Enterprise, added: “We are thankful for companies like 3EN that recognise the importance of engaging with children and young people to boost their educational prospects and knowledge of work. We hope to continue working with the company to help equip the children and young people of Holywood and beyond with the skills they need to become enterprising, creative and commercially aware individuals.”
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