Adjudicating at St. Gerard's Mace Debate

 St Gerard’s Mace Debate

On Saturday 16^th of January, I helped out at the annual St Gerard’s Mace Debate along with a few other TYs and some 5^th years. We were delighted to see Thomas, Ferdy and Cameron come back to help out too. I had a great time last year at the debate so I knew it would be another fantastic day full of great debating and fun!

I arrived at the school at 8.30am and immediately got to work registering debaters from different schools and welcoming people through the doors showing them where to go. Unfortunately, I could only stay till 11am as I had drama rehearsals with Ms. Carney from 11am to 4pm.

I adjudicated the first round with Thomas and Sabine and we had great fun in our room laughing at some of the debater’s funny speeches and praising others on their high standard of debating.

At the end of the debate, we gave some general feedback and then I gave some individual feedback to very passionate young debaters. Although I only got to stay and adjudicate for the first round I had a fantastic time and I heard that the rest of the day was a huge success.

     Congratulations to Loreto on The Green who won the debate in the grand finale. 

Bray One Act Drama Festival

Participating in the Bray One Act Drama Festival

On Thursday 26^th of January, I alongside other TYs, fifth years and second years took part in The Bray One Act Drama Festival. So much hard work went into the creation of our play – Hospital Food by Eugene O’Hare and Art, Cameron and Eoin even got their hair cut really short in order to make the play really realistic and to get into their characters.

We had a tech rehearsal in the Mermaid Theatre in Bray on the Sunday and then a final one on Tuesday evening and both went really well .We were given the opportunity to double check the sound and lighting and get a feel for the stage we would be acting on.

I had been really sick the week before the show so I was just praying I would be better by Tuesday and thankfully I pulled through (just about!). On the Tuesday evening before the show we mostly just relaxed in our dressing room and listened to some music to calm our nerves, although I was actually more excited than nervous as I absolutely love to perform on stage. We were up against 3 other youth groups which included East Glendalough and Kilmac Youth Drama group. We were to perform last which meant we only came on at 10pm which was quite late but meant that we had more time to perfect our makeup and costumes.

We were so grateful to have the fabulous Cathy Kelly and Helen, two junior school mothers, in to apply our makeup and they did such a professional, amazing job. They even applied a bald cap! They also helped the girls put their headscarves on so that no hair could be seen as we were cancer patients and the appearance of any hair could ruin the effect.

After what seemed like years, we finally got onto the stage and let’s just say performing in the Mermaid Theatre was one of the most exhilarating experiences, one that I will treasure forever. Everything seemed to just fall into place and our lines just seemed to flow one after the other without any hesitation whatsoever. The atmosphere was buzzing and truth be told we were all extremely emotional taking our final bow when we realised all our hard work had paid off.

We sat backstage as we listened to the adjudicator give feedback on each of the plays and then she told us the results. The adjudicator told us our play was poignant and moving. She also said that it had the potential to go places and do bigger and better things which was a huge compliment. After these breath-taking remarks we realised we had won all three of the prizes and we were thrilled, beyond thrilled. We won best production, best actress and best actor and it was just the best feeling ever that someone else thought our play was unique. A special word of congratulations to Mia and Cameron who won best actor and actress. We are all delighted for them and they truly deserved it.

I cannot emphasise enough how happy I am to be part of such a lovely group of people and I can’t put it into words how much I loved performing this play. But of course none of it would be possible without the wonderful Ms. Carney who is so dedicated and works so hard to make sure we put on the best play possible. She brings us out of ourselves and finds the inner actors deep down and for that I can’t thank her enough. I am eternally grateful for her guidance, support and continuous search for us to keep improving our acting. Another huge thank you to anyone who came to support us including some fourth year girls and parents, it means so much to have the support there.

We are hoping to perform our play in school which we hope will change people’s outlook on hospitals and cancer patients in general. I cannot wait to start our next play in fifth year and my experience in The Bray One Act Drama Festival is one I’ll never forget. 

 

          

A Bio-Diversity Talk / Workshop

       Bio Diversity Workshop

Today we had a Bio-Diversity workshop which was run by Katie and Sophie, two women from Presentation Biological. I was in the morning group which ran from 9-11am. This was a really good time as it meant that I could go straight to musical rehearsals afterwards.

Although I do not do any science subjects, I am very interested in Conservation and bio-mimicking as I am on the Green Schools Committee so I was very eager to see what Katie and Sophie had to say about Bio-Diversity and just the environment in general. Donal and I brought the two women to the halla nua and our whole group was immediately awoken from the early morning haze with Katie and Sophie’s enthusiasm. To say they were engaging speakers is an understatement.

We started with defining the word bio-diversity and we learnt that it refers to the variety and variability of life on earth. We then talked about sustainability and what we as humans can take from the earth that is of value to us.

We then played a really fun game which involved lots of shouting and crawling on the floor trying to collect beads – a little hectic but it had a really unique concept about how each generation had more resources and man-made materials.

Throughout the workshop, we discussed eco-systems and we even made a web out of string which represented wild species in Ireland that could create an eco-system.

Towards the end we listened to a presentation made by Sophie and then we created a poster in groups to do with us coming up with an invention that had something to do with an animal or plant. Our group came up with the idea of a black jacket because Polar Bear’s skin is black to keep insula so if a coat is black it would be a better insulator of heat.

I really enjoyed the Bio-Diversity Workshop and I definitely took a lot from it. It will definitely help me to brain-storm ideas for when The Green School’s Committee starts to work to get the Bio-Diversity flag. 

St. Vincent De Paul hamper packing

   SVP  Hamper Packing

 On Thursday 17^th of December, I took part in hamper packing for St. Vincent De Paul along with the fourth years and some 5^th years who are on the SVP committee. I have already been involved with St. Vincent De Paul before, doing bag packing in Dunne’s Stores and also volunteering in a thrift shop in Bray for my Gaisce award so because of this, SVP holds a special place in my heart. Hearing about the hamper packing, I was delighted to get involved and couldn’t wait to make people’s Christmases a little brighter. I was on Rebecca Rock’s packing team along with Joshua, Faye, Mark and Brian. Myself and Joshua immediately got to work and quickly got the hang of packing the Christmas essentials in a neat and safe way so that none of the food would get damaged. With Christmas music blaring in the background and the chitter chatter of my friends around it was a buzzing atmosphere.

After we finished packing the hampers we loaded them into a truck to be sent to the SVP society where they distributed the hampers out to families in need this Christmas.

Afterwards, we were treated to hot chocolate and sweets by the Canteen staff for all our work which was lovely.

Hamper packing was an amazing experience and I really hope to continue doing different things for St. Vincent De Paul.

  

Boire Bottles

Mini Company Update

Our mini- company is a business called ‘Boire Bottles’ that comprises of Jane, Chloe and myself. It involves selling a range of bottles called ‘mybottle’ in a range of different colours; Pink, Turquoise, Green, Black, White and Yellow. We ordered them of a supplier in China and they were delivered to Chloe’s house after Christmas. Before we ordered the bottles we went around to each of the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^thyear classes with a sample bottle to take orders. Surprisingly we immediately saw an interest from the years, especially from the 1^st years who were very eager to try our new product. All we had to do after the orders were in was wait for the bottles to arrive. When they arrived we were apprehensive to see them as we were a little afraid that we wouldn't receive the right amount of orders or that the bottles wouldn't

 

be of the standard that we expect. It was great that actually most of the bottles were of merchantable quality and we got the exact number of bottles we asked for. We are in the process of collecting money from people and handing out our bottles to our customers. We are also starting to take another order as our bottles are high in demand!

A big thanks to Mr. Kelly for all his support and belief in our mini-company. Hopefully we will keep getting orders and keep succeeding in our business. 

    

Fly like a butterfly, Sting like a bee

 Boxing  

Recently, I finished a boxing course held after school in the sports hall for 6 weeks. A group of us participated in it and learnt new ways of self-defence, boxing and got fit along the way. I think on the first day we were all surprised at how much fitness we did but in the long run it definitely improved our boxing and how we did at other sports like hockey. We had two coaches who, funnily enough, were both called Neil. Throughout the 6 weeks we did a mixture of learning new boxing techniques, cardio and core workout. The boxing really helped me to improve the power in my body and made me move quicker and smoother. The cardio, core and running definitely helped me get fitter and stronger.

I really enjoyed the boxing course as it was something new and it really helped our group to bond and have fun together.   

Young Social Innovators

Ysi Update

So much has been going on in Ms. Kavanagh’s YSI group. We have been working so hard to try and deliver a really good Young social innovators project that has spread awareness but has also raised funds for the refugees in Ireland. As you have probably read below we have already raised a lot for Ms. Dobbyn’s Refugee centre in Dun Laoighre through the bazaar bake sale and selling our very trendy wristbands. We also ran a clothes/toys drive and made little wash bags which held much needed essentials like toothpaste and shampoo. We then handed them over to Ms. Dobbyn who was so grateful and couldn’t wait to deliver the clothes, toys and wash bags to the refugees in her drop-in centre. It was such a fab feeling to know that we had actually done something to make someone’s Christmas a little brighter and we are continuing to sell our wrist bands and spread awareness around the school.

We are hoping to have another fundraiser sometime before May and we are currently in the process of writing up our project in order to take part in the YSI speak out. For the YSI speak out we are brainstorming ideas and hoping to come up with something really original, creative and unique which will spread much-needed awareness for the refugee crisis that is in Ireland at the moment, local and nationally. So far, YSI is going great and we are all being productive and getting a lot of good work done. Hopefully we will go really far in the YSI speak out and keep spreading awareness.      

                                                                       

A trip to the BT Young Scientist Exhibition

       

        BT   Young Scientist Exhibition

On Thursday 7^th of January, all the TY students set of to the BT Young Scientist Exhibition in The RDS in Dublin. As soon as we got there we were immediately surprised by the crowds of students and teachers eager to make their way around the ginormous exhibition hall. It was freezing outside but much warmer inside the RDS. Everyone split up and wandered around each stand, listening to various students from different schools and asking them questions about their science projects. There was such an array of projects and they were of such high standard but of course, me being biased thought that Joshua and Evelyn’s project were the best! Joshua’s project was about a solar panel app that incorporated a shade around the light so there wouldn’t be a risk of skin cancer. His stand looked brilliant and he told us that he was even talking to politicians like Simon Harris and Joan Burton. Joshua received a highly commended award and special award from telecoms equipment giant. Evelyn’s project was also fantastic and based around whether people’s first reaction is to go to a computer keyboard or a screen like an IPad. Although she didn’t receive any special awards, I personally thought her project was very good and deserved some credit from the judges. Also, her project board was so professional and easy to follow.

Overall, I didn’t find the BT Young Scientist Exhibition that enjoyable as after a while I started to get a bit bored but it was great to support two of our friend who had worked so hard on their projects.      

Participating in The Soroptimist Public Speaking Competition.

Soroptimist Public Speaking    Competition

On Wednesday, 25^th November, I took part in The Soroptimist Public Speaking Competition alongside Anna and Jane. Jane had written her speech on ‘Equality for women’ while Anna and I chose the topic on ‘Friendship and Volunteering’. The reason I chose this topic was because I felt that it was relatable to so many people and I know how important friendship and volunteering is in my life.

The other girls competing were from Rathdown and Holy Child Killiney and needless to say, the competition was extremely tough.

Soroptimist International, which includes Soroptimist international of The Americas, Soroptimist International of Great Britain & Ireland, Soroptimist International of Europe and Soroptimist International of South West Pacific, is a global volunteer movement working together to transform the lives of women and girls. Their network of around 80,000 club members in 132 countries and territories works at a local, national and international level to educate, empower and enable opportunities for women and girls. Projects take place all over the world focusing on issues such as violence against women, safe sanitation, Displacement, education, leadership – anything that effects the lives of women and girls.

Although I am an avid debater, I do not have that much experience in public speaking so this was the perfect opportunity to try public speaking and become a little more familiar with talking formally rather than in a more relaxed debate style. Looking back at the competition now, I wish that I had had a bit more time to prepare my speech as I had been doing work experience for the two weeks before the competition. Overall, however, it was a fantastic experience to inspire and encourage people to do something for women’s rights through my speech.

A girl from Rathdown came first and Anna came second which was amazing! Congrats Anna!    

A legal studies correspondence course with DCU.

The beginning of my CTY legal studies correspondence course with Dublin City University.

I decided to sign up for a legal studies correspondence course with Dublin City University a few month ago as my passion and interest for studying law at University level is becoming stronger every month in TY.  CTY is a programme run by DCU in order to give TY students an insight into what it would be like to study their chosen subject at University.

My first assignment is due on January 8^th (This Friday!!). There are 6 assignments, the last one due in May. I will have to send in my essays and answers to a tutor who is specialised in Legal studies. He or She will then send me back constructive criticism and feedback in order to help me improve my writing skills within the area of Law. My first assignment is Law Vs. Justice. I am currently studying and researching The Case of the Speluncean Explorers which is a famous hypothetical legal case used in the study of law, which was written by Lon Fuller in 1949 for the Harvard Law review.

The case grapples with many issues; including self-defence, contract law, and what happens when the law seems not to reflect justice. It is a really interesting case and is both challenging and thought-provoking. I love it so far.

                                                   

I will keep you updated on my progress with the legal studies course. So far it’s been refreshing and I’m really glad I signed up for it.  

A Christmassy Weekend in Munich - History Trip

  Trip to Munich, Germany

On Saturday 11^th of December, some fourth, fifth and sixth years headed to Munich on a History trip. In previous years the trip had only been open to fifth and sixth years so when I discovered I had the opportunity to go I leapt at the chance.

 I had never been to Germany so I was excited to discover a new country and its cultures and peoples. From fourth year, Jane L, Mia McCarthy, Caitlin, Esme, Lara, Iona, Cian, Shane, Jonathan, Rory, Conor Newsome, Rian, Ethan Robinson and myself all went. The teachers accompanying us were Mr. Roche, Ms. Fanning, Ms. Carrigy, and Ms. Molloy

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We spent 3 days there, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. We ate and shopped our way through Munich! We went to Nuremberg and attended a tour of the court where The Nuremberg Trials took place for war crimes during WW2. This was very interesting as it will be so helpful for the Leaving Cert course to have actually been in The Nuremberg Court.

We also went on a walking tour of The Third Reich and actually stood in many spots where Hitler stood. We also visited the sites of where Hitler held his party rallies. It was so exhilarating yet terrifying to be in a place where all the Nazis had been.

We stayed in a hostel called Haus International which Jane and I found very funny because ‘Haus’ is the German for house so Jane and I would always say it was like we were in our own house while staying at the hostel. It probably doesn’t sound very funny now but it was at the time!! Although the food wasn’t great in our ‘House’ (Get it!) and the rooms were a little cramped we still had such fun throughout our stay in Haus International. I was sharing a room with Mia, Jane and Muireann in Fifth Year. There was even a disco in Haus and a pizza machine. They also had water in cartons instead of bottles which we all found fascinating, probably a little too fascinating.

I am not ashamed to say that I love my food and it’s safe to say that Munich definitely delivered on the food front. We had endless nutella crepes, chocolate waffles and German sausages in rolls at the Christmas markets. We also had a McDonald’s once just to say we had been to a German McDonalds! ‘I’m loving it’

On the last day, we visited the biggest shopping centre in Germany much to the girls delight and to the boy’s dismay! Myself and the rest of the girls from TY visited every shop in sight including the much loved MAC and Douglas. I must say we over did it a bit with the purchases of makeup! We then had iced coffee and donuts in ‘Dunkin Donuts’ which Iona recommended as being the best place in the world, it certainly was. 

Going to Munich was a dream come true and one of my favourite experiences from TY so far this year. There was a constant buzz in Munich and a Christmassy feeling that warmed your heart. I felt that I bonded with everyone and it was truly a magical opportunity that I will never forget. 

 The  highlights were definitely visiting the Christmas Markets and learning about Munich as a historic city.  Thank you to all the teachers, especially Mr. Roche who made the trip a possibility and organised everything so well.