Local students are honoured

MAYOR of Fingal Cllr Mary McCamley made a special presentation to students from Portmarnock Community School to mark their achievement in winning an international award. 

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The four students – Colin McAndrew, Ravikanth Gollapalli, Ahmed Jouda and Luke Peyton – won the World Cup for Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship (SAGE).

They were joined by their families, teachers and friends at a special reception in County Hall, Swords, to mark their achievement in Odessa, Ukraine, in August.

The students won the award for their project Global Citizens Mapping the Future which is a non-profit Social Enterprise Project making maps for developing countries.

Over the last four years, using the OpenStreetMap website, the students have mapped Lesotho – a country with strong links to Fingal – and have helped tackle challenges such as Soil Erosion, Unemployment, Disaster Relief and an inadequate Emergency Service. 

Using the website, the students recorded geographical information such as infrastructure, population densities and land use in Lesotho. 

Over the last four years, they, and their supporters, have generated over 24 million edits for their maps and established Lesotho as the most mapped country in Africa. Their work is now an acknowledged model for other developing countries that have seriously inadequate maps.

“To win the SAGE World Cup for Social Innovation is a tremendous achievement and congratulations are extended to Colin, Ravikanth, Ahmed and Luke – as well all those who supported them on their journey,” said the Mayor.

“I was delighted to learn that Fingal County Council supported the early steps of this project. Our staff, who set them on their way, have been extremely impressed at how the students built on their early efforts to develop a project capable of being judged the best from the 32 countries which entered this keenly contested global competition.” 

Colin McAndrew thanked Fingal County Council, the Fingal community and Portmarnock Community School for their support for the project over the last few years.

“This is only the beginning,” he said. “It did not finish with the World Cup, it is only the beginning of where this project can go.”

On behalf of Portmarnock Community School, Niall Fitzgerald said: “Education can no longer begin and end at the gate. Participation beyond the school gate is important and what Fingal County Council has done is lead a model of education that is critical to the future.”

Chief executive of Fingal County Council Paul Reid said: “This was a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative for the council and I thank the staff and councillors for their support for this project. 

“It has created a new role for international agencies to be looking at because this project has demonstrated what can be achieved.”