02 March, 2016

We are delighted to announce that Rebecca Robinson, a research intern working in The Hincks Centre for Entrepreneurship Excellence has recently been accepted as a mentor for the Slingshot Academy. Rebecca was chosen from several hundred very high quality applications from all over Ireland to be a Slingshot mentor. Rebecca’s role as a mentor is to promote third-level education to secondary school students aged between the ages of 15 and 19. Slingshot academy exists to combat problems experienced in third level around the area of retention and engagement but also exists to give a real life view and information about life in college and what secondary school students should expect from the experience.
Each year, in Ireland, approximately 10,000 students leave college within their first eight months in study. Secondly, some areas in Ireland experience low levels of college course take-up. Some areas experience only a 20% take-up on third-level course. Slingshot aims to change that. The ethos is that by connecting 15 – 19 year olds with exceptional college students, they can turn the tide for the one in every six students who drop out. With this guidance, the belief is that a young person’s mind-set will change and impact positively impact on their future path. The core area of focus for the Slingshot academy is to promote education in the area of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths), Finance and Entrepreneurship.
We feel Rebecca will add tremendous value to her role as a Slingshot mentor. Rebecca is currently studying a Master’s in Business in CIT in the area of entrepreneurship education. Rebecca is also the team leader for Enactus CIT on campus which promotes social entrepreneurship to the student population on campus. Rebecca has also taken part in an entrepreneurial training programme, the Female Exxcel STEM Programme in the Rubicon Centre and has won college and national awards the area of entrepreneurship. We wish Rebecca the best of luck in promoting education to second level students.