The 'steaks' are high for Friends' pupils who have reached the final of the ABP Angus Youth competition

Pupils from Friend’s School Lisburn went behind the scenes of Northern Ireland’s leading commercial radio broadcaster to learn first-hand how to communicate like professionals.
By Julie-Ann Spence
Published 21st Feb 2023, 14:30 BST
Updated 21st Feb 2023, 14:30 BST
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The teenagers are representing their school in the final stage of this year’s ABP Angus Youth Challenge, a competitive agri-skills development programme for Yr. 11’s delivered by the beef and lamb processor ABP in conjunction with Certified Irish Angus.

They are competing against three other school teams from Down High School, St Killian’s College Carnlough and St. Louis Grammar School Ballymena.

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The final is a year long programme that includes working on projects to promote and enhance the sustainable production of Angus beef in Northern Ireland as well as rearing their own mini-herd of Angus cross calves through to beef and then selling them to ABP. ‘The Value of Technology to Improve Efficiency’ is the Friend’s School project theme.

From left Beth Reynolds, Alexandra Neill, Katie Mulholland and Naomi Patterson who are representing Friend’s School Lisburn in this year’s final stage of the ABP Angus Youth Challenge with Caroline Fleck, Presenter Downtown Radio; Victoria Quinn, Downtown Country Breakfast Show and the Cool FM presenter and social media influencer Melissa Riddell.From left Beth Reynolds, Alexandra Neill, Katie Mulholland and Naomi Patterson who are representing Friend’s School Lisburn in this year’s final stage of the ABP Angus Youth Challenge with Caroline Fleck, Presenter Downtown Radio; Victoria Quinn, Downtown Country Breakfast Show and the Cool FM presenter and social media influencer Melissa Riddell.
From left Beth Reynolds, Alexandra Neill, Katie Mulholland and Naomi Patterson who are representing Friend’s School Lisburn in this year’s final stage of the ABP Angus Youth Challenge with Caroline Fleck, Presenter Downtown Radio; Victoria Quinn, Downtown Country Breakfast Show and the Cool FM presenter and social media influencer Melissa Riddell.

During their visit to Cool FM/Downtown Radio the pupils were able to work with station presenters on creating a compelling storyline for their project and explore the importance of understanding audience. They also heard top tips from the radio station’s most successful social media influencers. The day culminated in recording radio adverts and video reels to help promote their project theme.

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Commenting on the workshop, Liam McCarthy of ABP said, “We offer this media workshop as an important training & development opportunity for our finalists. By equipping them skills we hope to help them act as young ambassadors for our industry and to make effective and responsible use of social media in communicating their projects.”

Related topics:Northern IrelandABP Angus Youth ChallengeAngus