Honiton Community College students impress industry figures with their enthusiasm.

STUDENTS from Honiton Community came top of the class and walked away with prestigious internships with national and international companies after beating off stiff competition.

George Taylor, Aaron King, Hannen Bishop, Ben Wassall, Sarah Hurford and Thomas Dunn came top of the class after attending the finals of Project Redesign, which is organised by the Dame Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

The students beat a number of schools at the event in Cardiff including students from Cullompton, the Axe Valley and Plymouth to win the event.

As part of the event they had to re-think our current waste problems by exploring the possibilities of a systems level re-design taking into account resources and rising energy costs.

Volunteers from the foundation’s founding partners, B&Q, BT and CISCO, National Grid and Renault were there to support the workshops, as key industry sector experts.

The students have recently completed their internships with BT, Renault Paris and the National Grid.

Student Tom Dunn said: “The National Grid Internship was brilliant. I learnt so much and gained so much valuable experience.”

The organisers of the event were impressed by the enthusiasm and intelligence the Honiton students showed throughout the activities and during their internships.

Project manager Jo Miller of Project ReDesign, said: “Despite it being a very concentrated week of activities they all stepped up to the challenge with incredible intelligence, enthusiasm and maturity.

“The feedback from the team at Renault, BT and the National Grid, the mentors and Ellen is overwhelmingly positive and they should be very proud of their achievement.”