Inspiring student stories
Read International (Recycling Education Allowing Development) was set up by 22-year old Robert Wilson in 2003 whilst at university.
The charity oversees and co-ordinates a group of regional ‘Tanzania Book Projects’ based at English universities to gather books, computers, sports and lab equipment and other educational resources to be redistributed to regions in Tanzania.
Robert currently works full time for READ International unpaid, and manages about 125 student volunteers around the country.
Within three years the organisation estimates it will transport 925,000 disused textbooks from the UK to Tanzania, with an approximate value of £9.4 million.
Sixteen-year-old Sam Stern is currently studying for his A-levels and has already launched two acclaimed cookbooks aimed at teenagers.
He approached Walker Books with his idea when he was just 14 and his first book, Cooking Up a Storm (2005), sold over 300,000 copies worldwide and was greeted with critical success across the globe – including UK chef Jamie Oliver.
Sam’s second book Real Food, Real Fast was also a huge success, and showed that fast food for busy teenagers doesn’t have to be junk food.
With two more books planned, plus talks underway to present his own show, Sam has become an impressive spokesman raising awareness of healthy eating and helping make cooking cool and accessible to a younger generation.
Tanya Budd, now 18, designed the Hypo Hoist, a man overboard recovery system, in 2005 as part of her ‘A’ level project.
Hypo Hoist is designed to recover an unconscious person from the water and back to the safety of the vessel whilst minimising injury.
Tanya was rewarded for her efforts by winning ‘Young Engineer for Britain’ and the product is now on sale directly through SeaSafe systems, a leading supplier of marine safety products.
James Tuthill’s graduation concept of the eglu led to him and three friends from the Royal College of Art in London, Johannes Paul, Simon Nicholls and William Windham, all in their mid-twenties, to form Omlet in 2004.
The eglu is a modern chicken house designed to provide an ideal habitat for the birds as well as providing an easy way to collect eggs.
Since launching they have sold over 8,000 eglus and have also designed complimentary products for rabbits. They plan to launch in the US soon.
Jay Cousins, 27, designed the Orikaso range of lightweight, folding cups and plates whilst at university and has since turned the idea into a business that retails in 30 countries worldwide.
The products, made from recyclable materials, have a unique design which allows them to hold liquid and food – then fold away flat.