Pupils swap school room for shop-floor to promote Enlighten Hope in Cookstown

A team of entrepreneurial pupils from St Patrick’s College in Dungannon recently swapped the classroom for the shop-floor in Asda, Cookstown to promote their award-winning project, Enlighten Hope.

The Enlighten Hope team, which recently scooped the Young Enterprise NI Company of the Year Award, wrote and illustrated a series of three short stories to help young children deal with the side effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Their inspiration came from the experiences of Eva Tomney from Keady who was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2012. The team produced a trio of illustrated adventure stories which capture the different aspects of cancer treatment Eva had to face – from losing her hair to using a wheelchair.

Written and illustrated by the Dungannon students with the support of their teacher, Tracy Hughes, the Enlighten Hope books provide a engaging and hopeful resource for other families who are facing similar challenges to little Eva, who sadly lost her battle in November 2015.

The Enlighten Hope team have explored every avenue to ensure Eva’s legacy lives on through the books and were thrilled to be offered the chance to trade for a day in Asda’s Cookstown store.

“This is a fantastic cause,” said Eugene Teague, store manager of Asda Cookstown. I’ve been really impressed by each member of the team as they’ve shown great entrepreneurial spirit and determination. I hope their trading platform in Asda will help them boost sales and generate widespread awareness of the books and their valuable messages.”

Carol Fitzsimons, CEO of Young Enterprise Northern Ireland commented: “Enlighten Hope are truly an inspirational group of young people. Their Company programme journey began with us in September and their passion, work ethic and determination to succeed has impressed throughout. They are a shining example of the workplace skills and confidence developed by young people through participation in our Company programme, and highlight how important it is that every child in Northern Ireland should get this opportunity.”

Enlighten Hope will now go forward to represent Northern Ireland at the YE Company Programme UK Final in London on 6th and 7th July 2016.

Anyone who missed out on the opportunity to buy the books in Asda can visit www.enlightenhope.co.uk and details are also available on Facebook and Twitter.