Last week, staff from the North Harris Trust organised an Enterprise Day for S3 pupils at Sir E Scott School. This is the second time we have run the event, and the feedback this time was even better than before. Robin, David, Mark and Alistair from the Trust took part, assisted by Miss Livingstone and Mrs MacKay from the school.
The day kicked off with Ranger Robin taking the group of 19, 14 year olds to see the new Eagle Observatory. Despite the low cloud, the group remained remarkably dry. They all squeezed into the building to hear about the local nature and the eagles that soar above the site –on a clear day. By chance Robin had been on both radio and TV that morning talking about the Observatory. Most of the pupils, and even HMI school inspectors knew about the Observatory, before he said a word!
After a trek back down the valley, the coach moved on to the Ceann an Ora housing development. The pupils heard about the population issues in Harris and the work that the Trust is doing to create jobs and housing to address the outmigration problem. Before lunch, the pupils took in a quick trip to the Urgha Community Recycling site, where they heard about the reuse and recycling activities. They also saw first-hand, the wind-turbine, which powers the site.
In the afternoon, back at the school, there were presentations from local businesses, and team tasks. Thanks must go to David Cameron from Harris Hotel, Paul Finnegan from Meavaig Hatchery and Donald John MacKay and his wife of Luskentyre Tweed who took time out to help with the afternoon activities.
The event was designed to open up the eyes of local teenagers to what goes on around them in Harris. It aims to teach the pupils that there are opportunities in Harris, and moving to the mainland after school is not the only choice. Evaluation sheets completed by the pupils after the event showed that 72% of attendees could now see more opportunity for themselves in Harris.