The R E S Apprentice Final 2012

Posted 2011-12-08

On Friday 2nd December 2011, the six Apprentice finalists returned to Hersham Place Technology Park to present themselves to a six strong team of judges including our guest judge Dominic Raab – MP for Esher & Walton Constituency. The winning candidate would be crowned the ‘R E S Apprentice Winner 2012’.

The competition which is now in its 7th year kicked off in September 2011 and saw students take part in real life tasks set by some of our business sponsors. In total, twenty ‘sixth form’ students entered the competition which would run over three gruelling rounds.

The first round was set by Mitch Avis-Key Account Manager of Hersham Place Technology Park and students were asked to think about increasing retention of tenants in a commercial property situation. In round two, students were set a task by Tom Sweetman of 1 Step Productions, in which they had to create and brand a new music group. Round three took students to the Holiday Inn at Heathrow, where manager Rory Walker asked them to develop a new name and concept for the restaurant together with a ‘signature dish’.

For the final round, the six finalists came back to Hersham Place Technology Park. Their task was to write and film an innovative and creative two minute video about themselves and why they thought they were the best person to become the next R E S Apprentice.

The judging panel included: Dominic Raab – MP for Esher and Walton, Mitch Avis - Key Account Manager at Fasset Business & Property Solutions, Geoff Rolls – Vice Chairman of Governors at R E S, Sally Findlay of Recognition Express, Prakash Krishnamurthy - Food and Beverage Manager at Heathrow Holiday Inn; and Mr Mario Scannella – Head of R E S Sixth Form.

After the videos, each student gave a presentation to discuss how they came up wit the concept for their video and what they thought was their Unique Selling Point (USP) was.

The competition was very strong and after much deliberation the finalist who impressed the most and was crowned the R E S Apprentice 2012 was Jamie Gray. In second place was Billie Hodgson and in third place, Bex Goodchild.

R E S would like to extend their thanks to the many businesses and individuals who have given up their time not only today but over the years to make this competition one of the most exciting events in the school calendar. Also to Mitch Avis of Fasset for his incredible support of this competition and on welcoming the students to Hersham Place Technology Park for both the 1st round and final rounds. Thanks also to Dominic Raab for attending this event and all of the other judges and many pupils who were as ever exceptionally talented.

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