Inspiring Longford students enjoy county win at the TY Young Social Entrepreneur Awards

Huge congratulations are in order for Mean Scoil Mhuire's Aoife Smyth, Aoibhín O’Brien, Olivia Johnston, Isabelle Boylan, and Emily Quinn, the Longford county winners of the TY Young Social Entrepreneur of the Year competition.

Longford County Council described the girls' "creativity, leadership, and passion for positive change" as "inspiring".

Mean Scoil Mhuire likewise praised the girls' achievement, describing it as “outstanding” and adding that “a special word of thanks and congratulations also goes to their teacher Ms O’Brien for her guidance, support and encouragement throughout! An excellent achievement for all involved”.

Student and team member Aoife Smith, shared additional details about their project on the Mean Scoil Mhuire website:

"The idea for the social enterprise competition was to create a concept that would align with the idea of social enterprises. Our group consisted of Olivia Johnstone, Emily Quinn, Aoibhínn O’Brien, Emma Darby and I, and we came up with an idea called Teen Threads. The main objective of Teen Threads was to create a sustainable youth-led enterprise selling pre-loved clothing for teenagers."

"Teen Threads would only operate on weekends to suit young people’s schedules around school and to create meaningful employment opportunities for teenagers. Teen Threads would also be an outlet for clothing donations which in turn would reduce textile waste, promoting sustainability, circular fashion and environmental awareness. We would like to thank Ms O’ Brien for her encouragement and support!"

Funded by the local democracy reporting scheme