University of Ulster students have put their event management skills to good use and raised £2,000 for a local charity.
The International Hospitality Management BSc students - based at the Ulster Business School, Belfast campus - planned, organised and staged an event of their choice to raise money for Downtown Radio and Cool FM’s Cash for Kids.
The charity promotes the social, physical and mental wellbeing of children and young people throughout Northern Ireland.
The fundraising events ranged from a cabaret night featuring May McFettridge in the Academy Restaurant, Belfast campus to speed dating in Scratch nightclub to a 007 evening in Café Vaudeville.
Student, Jordan Davidson, said: “It was a fantastic and terrifying experience running our own event. But the euphoria of seeing lots of people enjoying all our hard work made the pressure worthwhile. It is also brilliant that the money we raised helps light up the lives of children and young people in Northern Ireland.”
Event Management module lecturer in the Department of Hospitality and Tourism, Nikki McQuillan, said: “This project gave the students an opportunity to develop ‘real world’ skills that will appeal to employers, such as, social responsibility, negotiating for sponsorship, creating an event that they can market and knowing all the time that if they lose money they are responsible financially, this always helps to focus the mind commercially!”
Darren Fowler, the Cash for Kids Charity Manager, helped to mentor the students during the planning stages.
He said: “It’s so wonderful to see students working so hard on great charity events. Their dedication and imagination has really paid off with a great donation to Cash for Kids. The money raised will be going to projects like buying a jungle gym for a little boy, who cannot play in play parks with other children because of his medical equipment. This little boy will now have the chance to play outside like other four-year-olds.”
The charity focuses on improving quality of life and encouraging both personal development and aspirational fulfilment. All funds raised will be distributed to provide relief from illness, disability or disadvantage among children aged 0-17.
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Caption: Event Management students present a cheque to (front row l-r) Downtown Radio and Cool FM’s Cash for Kids charity manager Darren Fowler, Cool FM Courage the Teddy, students Chris Dunne, Thomas Carson, Jamie Gilmour, Jordan Madden, and Jordan Davidson, (back row l-r) lecturer Nikki McQuillan, Ellen Havlin, Laura Devlin.