A group of young people from James Gillespie’s High School secured £3000 for the Drake Music Scotland for the development of its youth music projects in Edinburgh.
The team was one of eight to take part in the school’s Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) Final Showcase and impressed judges with its creativity, passion, and business case.
Hannah Smith from YPI’s funding partner abrdn said:
“Judging such a fantastic selection of young people’s presentations was an amazing experience. Each of the eight groups presenting had worked so hard and were passionate about the social issue they were speaking about. It was also a great way to learn more about some of the great work local charities do.”
abrdn empowers young people in Edinburgh and Aberdeen through its funding partnership of YPI with The Wood Foundation and has committed £140,000 over five years to the active citizenship programme.
Ian Porter, Deputy Head Teacher at James Gillespie’s High School, said:
“YPI is invaluable. What came through is the passion our young people have for issues in our community and the charities they chose to represent. It’s fantastic to see how well the young people have worked together in teams and a common cause which they believe in. They took things to a new level, and I am so proud of them.”
Other teams represented at the event which took place in the school’s assembly hall were Edinburgh Women’s Aid, It’s Good 2 Give, Advocard, The Welcoming, ECAS and Fresh Start.
Finn was on the winning team. He said:
“It was amazing to help an issue we all care so passionately about.”
His teammate Tian added:
“I learned a lot through YPI. Not just about our own social issue but about all of the other issues our peers represented.”
YPI is a unique programme of teamwork, creativity, and competition. A full year group in each school takes part researching social issues in their communities, charities addressing these, and working in teams to develop powerful presentations to raise awareness of them. One team secures their school’s £3000 grant. It is active in 280 secondary schools across Scotland, empowering young people to direct more than £6m of grants to local charities since 2008.
