St. Louis trio win ABP Angus Youth Challenge

St Louis Grammar student who have become the overall winners of the ABP Angus Youth Challenge,

Picture Colm Mahady / Fennells - Copyright© Fennell Photography 2020 — St Louis Grammar student who have become the overall winners of the ABP Angus Youth Challenge, Picture Colm Mahady / Fennells - Copyright© Fennell Photography 2020

A trio of schoolboys from St Louis Grammar in Ballymena have become the overall winners of the ABP Angus Youth Challenge, an agri-food competition aimed at bridging the gap between school and employment.

The boys - Conal McCafferty, Thomas O’Kane and Peter Graham -learned of their success via a YouTube video news bulletin The sponsors, the meat processor ABP and the Northern Ireland Angus Producer Group, commissioned the video in response to Coronavirus social distancing measures preventing them holding a live event. The bulletin included a dedication to all the finalists from the Ireland Ladies Hockey Captain, Katie Mullan on how growing up on a farm has taught her valuable life lessons to help her succeed in the face of challenges.

The boys entered the ABP Angus Youth Challenge in 2017 and made it on to the finalists’ skills development programme in April 2018. Since then they have been competing against three other finalist teams from Belfast Royal Academy, Enniskillen Royal Grammar and Rainey Endowed Magherafelt to become the overall winners and the recipient of a cheque for £1,000 for their school.