This year the OC prize was awarded to Adam Cooke, Martin Cooke’s
son, who has made an unusually promising start to ‘life after Clayesmore’!1. Why do you think you won it (it is awarded to the student who has done most to take the good name of the school out into the wider world.
My dad explained the criteria for the OC Prize. In terms of taking the name of Clayesmore to the outside world, I suppose I got the prize because my company, ATech Media, has meant that the name of Clayesmore has been seen across the world. I was asked to design the website for ISCis South and West which meant that all the independent schools in the South West, from Penzance up to Gloucester and along to Lancing College in West Sussex, came to be represented on my site. Luckily, everyone has been very approving of this site. Obviously, I have designed and produced the Clayesmore site and people visit that everyday from across the world. We are now increasingly busy not only designing websites, but carrying out sub-contracted work for other design houses and, as you know, developing the new assessment programme for Clayesmore which seems to have gone down very well.
2. What are your plans for the next couple of years?
My plans for the next couple of years are not fully developed. Against all expectations and despite doing very little work, I got my place at Cardiff University but I always planned to defer that until 2006. In the meantime, I first of all had a job in Dorchester but found that I wasn’t learning anything new. I gave notice therefore and along with three other friends from Clayesmore, decided to take ATech Media more seriously and develop it further than I originally thought possible. This does mean that I have some serious thinking to do as regards university next October, but I want to run with things now and see where we get to with ATech before making any final decisions. I suppose it is possible that I won’t take up my place at Cardiff, but I’m not taking that decision yet.
3. What is aTech Media Doing at the moment?
We are very busy at the present time. aTech Media has been commissioned to develop new websites for a number of schools and other clients and we are about to undertake a complete overhaul of the ISCis South and West site with several new features. In addition to this, we are undertaking a good deal of web-based work on behalf of a major design company.
www.atechmedia.com