Up Yours, Nerds!

Zoe Troughton (20) along with three fellow Newcastle University students, Charlie Oxley, Bethany Pain and Joanne Whitty won £5,000 in a series of challenges similar to that of the BBC television show the Apprentice, called the National Student Apprentice Challenge.

The team, having been successful in a selection of local heats made it to the semi-final stages at none other than Canary Wharf in London, against the likes of uber-nerds Cambridge, Warwick (and Aston) Universities. Here they had to create a mock computer components firm, which made a profit of £500,000 on paper.

Later tests included consultancy, creating a recruitment package and the marketing of a new energy drink, which the team called ‘Nenergy’.

The final test involved being awakened at 1am in their hotel rooms on the final night and being given the task of creating a business plan to make the hotel more profitable!

Zoe Troughton, Combined Honours student, 20, told the Tab “we kind of saw ourselves as the underdogs of the competition as we were up against Cambridge, Warwick and UCL, etc, but our chilled attitude and laid back yet fighting approach took is to the top.”

She also told us that the money is being split evenly between all who took part; with Zoe adding “the cheque was almost twice my height.”

It just goes to show that if you get off your arse at Uni you will be rewarded!