Business and Enterprise students design face masks for staff at Kirkcaldy Foodbank

Face masks, designed and sourced by Fife College Business and Enterprise students, have been helping keep front-line staff at Kirkcaldy Foodbank protected this winter.

Students from the College’s Intermediate Certificate Business Enterprise and Administration course, and Intermediate Certificate Business Enterprise and Accounting course, were tasked with a product design project as part of a unit during their course.

The students used the project as an opportunity to support staff working at the Kirkcaldy Foodbank during the pandemic and researched a range of suppliers, based on cost, quantity, and quality, to produce a branded face mask.

One of the students on the programme, Colleen Wilkie from Newburgh, then presented the masks to volunteers at Kirkcaldy Foodbank’s Viewforth Distribution Centre, alongside College lecturers Natalie Kerr and Ciaran Faherty.

Colleen Wilkie said:

"Sourcing the facemasks for our Retail Planning and Event unit was fun and challenging. We organised teams to source, price and market our Fife College branded face mask product, and at each point the full class was consulted to make key decisions.

"We overcame the challenge of logistics to work very well together, over Microsoft Teams and in the classroom. The unit taught us all how to work well in different locations and how to source, price and market a product for an event.

"It was great to donate the masks to Kirkcaldy Food Bank. Eddie and the staff there were so welcoming, and it is excellent that they will be put to such good use."

Natalie Kerr, Business Lecturer at Fife College, said:

“The group put in a lot of work and planning to produce the branded face masks, which were really appreciated by the staff at Kirkcaldy Foodbank.

“The students all passed the enterprise unit of their course with flying colours – but they should be especially proud of the way they used their work on the project to support a vital service in the community.

“Colleen and the rest of the group are all fantastic ambassadors for the College.”