TY 2015-2016 News Letter

TY

St. Gerards School

Transition Year

2015-2016

M USI CA L . . .

‘Grease’ was the word throughout January and February among everyone in fourth year. We danced, sang and acted our way through the corridors on the way to rehearsals, knowing that the hard work we put in would definitely pay off. When we first got the news that we would be performing ‘Grease’ - The Musical, we were ecstatic, thrilled to be able to put our twist on such a well-known and popular musical. ‘Grease’ is a classic so we already knew it so well which really helped us to get straight into the songs, dances and scenes.

‘Grease’ was such a good choice for our year because it had something for everyone, if you were talented at dancing there was many fun and vibrant dance routines to be perfected, if your passion was singing there were challenging yet beautiful songs to sing and if acting was your preferred option then there was the cheesy American accent to work on and numerous scenes to stage and throw humour into.

This year’s Transition Year needed no encouragement to get stuck in straight away and immediately everyone put their best foot forward, helping each other out. We used our strengths and weaknesses to the best of our abilities which really helped to mould ‘Grease’ into a brilliant production. Everyday we would religiously go through our dance

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routines and act out the various scenes until they were perfect and everyone was happy. Aisling, our choreographer and director worked so diligently to make sure everything was on track and everyone was working hard.

There were principal roles and chorus/ background dancing roles, and everyone seemed to just click with whatever part they were given.

From starting the rehearsals to finishing the last show, every moment was a joyous occasion sprinkled with laughter and loads of fun. I think throughout the process of the musical we all saw different sides to everyone, musically and acting wise. Everyone had something to bring to the show and I feel that everyone’s little hidden talents made the show what is was.

Looking back on the amount of rehearsals we had, there was not one moment where I wasn’t having some sort of fun. We all got on so well and giggled our way through challenging dance routines and dialogue laced with the cheesy ‘Grease’ accent. Everyone really put their all into the musical no matter how uncomfortable or comfortable they were with performing.

A lot of the principles were already quite at ease with the idea of being on stage but I think together as principles we really helped each other to blossom into our parts and step into our character’s shoes.

Performing each night to a packed hall was an intense yet exhilarating experience, nearly like being on the west-end or broadway. The bright lights and the band became something familiar, friendly and comforting while being on stage. Seeing each other in our costumes every day was very funny and enjoyable and I think even sitting with all the girls in our dressing room putting on our makeup helped to bring us all together as a group of friends. Before matinées and before evening performances, we were running around like mad-hatters – making finishing touches on our makeup, hurriedly throwing a bit of foundation on the boy’s faces and fixing each other’s mics. The only way I can describe the musical is a rollercoaster. It had its ups and downs and you could never be sure of what was around the corner. The only thing we knew was that when we looked back we would know that it was a great ride.

Every show ran so smoothly and that was because of Aisling’s fabulous directing and Ms.Olahan’s producing. Without them, we would have been lost. They helped us to make sure our talents shone through and that everyone was included in the production. It was actually quite emotional when we finished the musical as it had grown so close to our hearts. I think ‘Grease’ was an experience of a lifetime, one that we will always remember.

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GEORGIA FERGUSON

St . Ge rard ’s S en i o r S c h o ol

AWA R DS & COM PETITIONS ...

Gaisce » ZACH GLYNN Throughout my TY year, I took part in the President’s Award, like most of my fellow classmates. For my Gaisce campaign I took up gym/swimming, continued to try and improve my golfing skills and assisted Bray Lakers with football on their Monday evening training sessions. I found it was a worthwhile experience. I enjoyed the football with Bray Lakers even though I was anxious at the beginning.

Participating in Gaisce helped me to organise my time each week to undertake the task for an hour. My golfing skills improved dramatically along with my physical fitness.

Others undertook: pottery, yoga, golf, young social innovators (YSI), coaching, Steer Clear, rugby, ECDL, guitar,pottery, Order of Malta / First Aid, SVP shop, gym, Simon community, Bray Lakers, hockey, football and more.

Gaisce Community Service Riding for the Disabled Association Ireland

»

Natasha Bernon

As part of my Gaisce awards I helped each Monday at the Riding for the Disabled Association at Carrickmines equestrian centre. My job was to help and assist the children and occasional adult riders. They were given instruction which lasted one hour, both in the indoor arena & around the grounds of the equestrian centre. The riders were thrilled with the experience. Therapeutic riding not only helps to build confidence in the children but also acts as physio, exercising and loosening their muscles.

I had no idea before starting my community experience that it would have as big of an effect on me as it has. It made me feel accomplished after helping them, I was proud to be doing something good and useful with my time. If anyone has the opportunity to help at any RDA group I would highly recommend that they do it.

Faith Friends » Harry Curley As part of my transition year I have signed up to participate in the John Paul the Second Award. This is like a religious based Gaisce award. To receive the award you have to complete three main tasks. You need to do 13 weeks of community service, 13 weeks of parish involvement and the write an essay on your spiritually. ​ s part of the parish involvement a group of us have linked A with the Junior School in a Faith Friends program with the communion class. To do this we have been going over to the Junior School every second Friday to teach the Standard 2 students about the sacrament of communion. Before we started the classes we had to organise a prayer service to kick off the Faith Friends program. I designed the leaflets for the service after they had been compiled by Zenia and Jackie. Then made them into booklets and placed one of these on every pew. On the morning of the prayer service we all went over to the chapel to decorate it and make sure that the microphones were working at the altar and for Mia and Anna who were singing. During the prayer service I had two main roles the first was to read one of the Prayers of the Faithful. I didn’t mind that job as I don’t mind speaking in front of people. The second role was to help position and light the candles for the ceremony of light during the service.

The main worry was making sure that the children didn’t burn themselves when carrying the cables. Thankfully it all ran smoothly! Overall I felt the prayer service went very well and was a good experience to organise. I am now looking forward to going over to the Junior school to teach the class.

Soroptimists » Anna Byrne The soroptimist is a women’s organisation that campaign for women’s rights. Every year they hold a public speaking competition for girls in secondary school. The district competition was held in Bray and speech topics included women’s rights, education, friendship and volunteering. My speech focused on the topic of friendship and volunteering. Six other girls from the school took part in the competition.

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Everyone did very well in this round and their speeches were fantastic.

Other schools such as Rathdown and Holy Child were competing also. I came second in the district competition and went on to compete in the regional competition in Waterford. In the regional competition I had to deliver a six minute prepared speech and also a two minute unprepared speech.

My speech topic was based upon the quote “ our prime purpose in life is to

help others, and if you can’t help them at least don’t hurt them”.

I really enjoyed this experience and felt that I learnt a lot from it. My confidence and my public speaking has improved greatly and it helped a lot in other aspects of TY like the musical and drama. I hope to compete again next year and do as well as I did this year.

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YO UNG S OCI A L I NNOVATO R S . . .

YSI - Reaching Beyond The Borders »

SABINE O’CONNELL

The term YSI itself stands for Young Social Innovators. The word innovative means to have a new way of thinking with fresh ideas, that meant that we had to think; outside the box and creatively with our thoughts. ‘Reaching Beyond the Borders’ was the name for our YSI group, and our aim was to raise awareness of the refugee crisis in our school community.

With our goal in mind, our social medias were set up and monitored daily by members of our group. We gained followers quickly and kept our followers up to date with what we were achieving. We researched what refugees would need when they came to Ireland and a few thoughts came to mind. Food, shelter and water and some of the basic needs of a human being, however, what were some of the things that would not necessarily be needs but wants?

We acquired the knowledge that the refugees would be taken in by different charities and given money to have some breathing room.

People all over Ireland were hosting fundraisers, money would not be a problem for a while however as I mentioned before, what about the wants of the refugees? Food would be organised and shelter was being taken care of.

As a group we decided to ask our school to donate items. We asked each year group to bring us in objects from a list, like toys, scarves and hats and shampoo and soap. We talked to our old Vice Principal, Ms. Dobbyn, who is in charge of a refugee centre in Dun Laoghaire and she was delighted with the prospect of not just money but things that could comfort their tired bodies after their monumental journey. It was a great success and Ms. Dobbyn was thrilled, we also raised a large sum of money from other fundraisers and that was an added bonus. We also took part in the ‘Speak Out’ event, sold cakes at the Bazaar and sold Reaching Beyond the Borders wristbands in aid of the refugee centre.

YSI - Time For Tech » ANNA BYRNE Time for Tech is our YSI group that focused on raising awareness of people with autism and intellectual and physical disabilities this school year. The idea came from realizing that there was a lack of education about autism among people in our community and particularly among our peers. We felt as a group that this

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social issue touches us all and we knew we could make a big difference if we raised awareness.

We invited lots of speakers to the school throughout the year. We began with Adam Harris, the director of ‘As I Am’, an autism awareness group, Simon Harris the local TD, and Anne King and Claire Brady who told us

about the role of Bray Lakers in our community. We visited the local New Court school, which is a school that caters to the needs of people with special needs and autism. We held a raffle during the musical which raised enough money to buy software called Clicker 6 for the Newcourt School which specifically helps people with special needs in learning English.

We held an anonymous survey among people with autism in our school community to see how we can improve the school environment and make them feel more welcome and included.

We are still working on a website which aims to bring educational games and tasks to older kids in a fun way.

We learnt a lot about this interesting and current topic and did a fantastic presentation in the ‘Speak Out’; we even got through to the next round of the competition. We’re now designing a poster to put on display to show our project to the school community. YSI was a fantastic experience and our project increased my knowledge and awareness about autism in Ireland today.

St . Ge rard ’s S en i or S c h oo l

TRIPS ...

Carlingford » LARA BURKE I’ve heard so many good things about this week from 5th years and other people’s siblings, and I was not disappointed.

Carlingford is incredibly cute and looked almost like a movie set. I was surprised by how nice the food was there, the worst part was probably the breakfast.

The teachers one time even let us go to the chipper across the road which was a highlight! The teachers kindly took us to the shops during the day where we stocked up on sweets. You have no idea how much food I ate during that trip.Luckily, we were

so busy with activities that we had no trouble walking it off.

The activities on offer were super and the only one I didn’t like as much was the canoeing and that still ended up being hilarious as one of the canoes sank along with Tom, Caroline, Katherine, Mia and Jane. Other activities included ziplining, which was so much fun and sumo wrestling in bubble suits, or ‘zorbing’. Laser tag got very intense but was also a great laugh. I loved every second of the trip. It was one of my favourite activities from 4th year.

Glasnevin » JONATHAN BERKELEY

The Zoo » EOIN RIORDAN

Glasnevin cemetery was extremely interesting. I was astonished when our tour guide told us that approximately 1.5 million people were buried in that cemetery, over 124 acres.

I was happy that our tour guide was so knowledgeable on this subject, because it was quite engrossing to learn about the lives of the many people who had been buried on this site.

Many influential and important people were buried at Glasnevin cemetery. Such people include Eamon De Valera, Michael Collins and Daniel O’Connell.

It was weird to think that I was standing on the ground where 1.5 million bodies were buried, but then I saw the café prices and I nearly died as well!

On Thursday the 8th of October, we went on what I think was a very enjoyable trip to Dublin Zoo in Phoenix Park. At the start we had two hours to explore the zoo and see all the animals. I went to the reptile house first and saw some tarantulas. I hate spiders. I then saw some peahens and it was funny when Ben got scared and ran away from them. We then had a tour and the focus of the tour was the conservation of endangered species. It was a very interesting tour and I enjoyed it a lot as it was very beneficial to see how Dublin Zoo conserves endangered species. After the tour, we went for lunch and then went to see some of the animals we had not yet seen. At three o’clock, we were all sad to leave as it had been such a fun day.

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T RI P S .. .

Camping Trip » Aimee O Caoimh The TY camping trip was once again a huge success and certainly one of the many highlights of the year. Immediately after receiving our Junior Cert results, we boarded a bus and headed off to spend three days and two nights in a campsite in Lough Dan. There were plenty of challenges and responsibilities involved in the trip, but these only made the experience all the more enjoyable.

We arrived at the campsite in high spirits and erected our tents without too much difficulty. Each group had to look after preparing their own ‘bush tucker’ and we walked off our lunch before enjoying a campfire that night.

The hike on Thursday proved to be quite a challenge. We set off for the 22km hike at 10:30am and didn’t return back until 4pm. Although it was long and tiring, it was also great fun and the scenery around the Wicklow mountains was amazing.

In TY we have been told to start taking responsibility for ourselves.

I think everybody loved the responsibility involved in the trip. We erected our own tents, prepared our own meals and washed not only our dishes but the teachers dishes also! This was certainly a trip I will never forget.

London » CLAIRE O’LEARY Thursday, April 14th at approximately 6.40 in the morning 21 students, Mr Mulholland, Ms Waters and Mr Jennings embarked on our 3 day trip to London.

Thursday was definitely the busiest day, safe to say we were all exhausted by the time 11 o’clock came around. First stop, after landing, was the tube station to take us to the hotel where we dropped off our bags and got to sit down for a total of 5 minutes. Everyone was very aware that there wouldn’t be much sitting around on this trip so those 5 minutes were glorious especially considering we had been awake since 4.30 that morning! This day, we visited The Natural History

Museum, The Science Museum, The London Dungeons, and we did the Jack the Ripper Tour.

The Natural History and Science museums were very large, you could definitely spend a couple of hours in there but because we only had an hour or two in each we all decided what we wanted to see the most and headed there first. After the museums we headed to the London Dungeons and that was where we all realised why Mr Mulholland kept stopping to do a number check. Going into the Science Museum we had 21 students, arriving at the tube stations we had 19. It didn’t take long for all 21 of us to be back together and on with our journey, crisis averted! London Dungeons and Jack the Ripper Tour were our final activities of the afternoon. It was a long day and after a lovely dinner in Giraffe our first day had come to an end.

Friday was an early start as well but waking up at 6.45 instead of 4.30 felt like luxury. Friday was a lot less busy than Thursday but equally as exciting. Our first trip was the Imperial War Museum and Mr Mulholland had recommended that we all visited the Holocaust exhibition on the 4th floor before we left so that’s what the majority of us started with. It was absolutely amazing and everyone really took their time going through the exhibition as there was just so much to take in. HMS Belfast was next on the list and I think all 21 of us can agree that the first thing that pops into our when we think of the HMS Belfast is those mannequins. They were filming a movie while we were there so anyone who was in Ms Water’s group got a behind the scenes look (not really, we just saw actors in sailor-suits). Next were the cable cars over to the Crystal. The views from up there were amazing so everyone was just chatting and enjoying the view. On the way back it was much the same. Paddy tried Sushi for the first time, not many can say they tried sushi for the first time

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St . Ge rard ’s S en i o r S c h o ol

TRIPS ...

Scuba Diving » SHANE MALONE-MURPHY

On Thursday the 26th of November we had the opportunity to go scuba diving with OceanDivers in the National Aquatic Centre. This was much anticipated as we had our theory much earlier so we were all excited to finally get to try out in practise what we had learnt.

Our day started with a bus journey from the school to the National Aquatic Centre and after we had been spilt into four groups our instructor Willy went over what we had been told in our theory class again.

Everyone was then suited in a wetsuit and paired with fins (not flippers as we had been told) and after another safety warning we got to dive into the pool.

I found the sensation of being able to breath underwater one of the most surreal experiences I’ve ever had. I’ve always wanted to be able to do it because I’ve always been obsessed by the sea and with swimming. The hour we had went by too fast and I wished I could join the second group to go diving again!

in a cable car over the River Thames.

Over the river was the Crystal which was all geography based. Back over the river was the Tower of London and then onto the Shard. The Shard was amazing, the views were spectacular but sadly it was foggy and raining so it was difficult to take pictures up there. That didn’t stop anyone from taking pictures inside with the foggy view in the background though! Our final stop on the last night was Pizza Express and after everyone’s long day we were all eager for food. After food it was back to the hotel and by 11 we were all in our rooms.

over. All 21 of us agree that the trip was absolutely amazing and we can’t thank Mr Mulholland enough for organising such a memorable trip and of course to Mr Jennings and Ms Waters who came along too.

Final morning and none of us really realised how quick the trip had gone by until we were packing up. First stop on the last day was the Churchill War Rooms and that was really interesting. Next, we went on a trip on the Rib speed boat and that was absolutely brilliant, except for those split 3 seconds when Mr Mulholland nearly dropped his phone. (He had all the group pictures, we couldn’t have him losing his phone.) Our final stop before the airport was shopping on Oxford Street and everyone had been looking forward to that from the beginning. The 2 hours went by so quick and before we knew it we were back in Heathrow. The plane ride home was great fun, everyone was having a great laugh and I think then it really sunk in that the trip was

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Earth’s Edge » MORGAN FREELEY On the 17th of November we were given a talk by a man called James McManus. He is the founder and current CEO of an adventure company called Earth’s Edge. They run trips to places like Mount Kilimanjaro, the Himalayas, and the Great Wall of China. They are Ireland’s only licensed adventure travel company. The trips they offer spread across 40 different countries. They only hire local experts for their treks across the world, and they are now trying to introduce a trip to Everest, for those hardcore thrill seekers. James said that at first it was hard to build up the brand of the company with the public, but he said social media was a huge aid in getting the company to where it is today. The best advice he could give to somebody setting up their own business was no matter what field the business is in, stick with it, and eventually everything will come together. I found the talk really interesting, and it gave me a sense of how much work actually goes into setting up a business.

Photography Course » CAROLINE BLENNERHASSETT A couple of TY students and myself had a chance to take part in a photography course this year. Una Armstrong, a photographer, quickly explained the rules to us and showed us how to handle the cameras and equipment properly. After this we set about taking photos of each other. We would either be modelling or taking the photos, but almost everyone preferred taking the photos. We were really lucky with the lighting because there were three mediums of light available.

By the window there was a soft natural light, which looked amazing if you were able to position the model accordingly. There was a studio light

which was also very flattering and professional looking. My favourite lighting however was the sunlight which we managed to capture outside.

It was difficult to take a lot of good photos in this light as it kept changing or blinding the model, but if you managed to capture a picture when the light was just right, it was beautiful.

I loved using the cameras and finding the models best angles. We all learned how to change the settings depending on the light. Taking photos of my friends was really enjoyable and I would love to do a similar course again.

Pottery » JANE STOKES Pottery was one of our modules but some devoted students spent time in pottery classes on a Wednesday after school and sports. It started at 5:00 and went on to 6:30.

In each class Mr. O’Connor would give us biscuits, tea, coffee and hot chocolate. It was a kindness that was not necessary but made the classes more enjoyable. We would enter the

pottery room and immediately start coming up with ideas and grabbing the clay. We were encouraged to sketch the object of interest before completing our 3D version.

Throughout the year it was a way to de-stress and have an easy going time. It also helped me to focus; it gave me time to think while I was focusing my energy on one clear

outlet.

The class managed to complete many beautiful prices of art that we will be proud of. It gave students who never thought they were good at art a new medium and chance for them to prove that idea wrong. There were some very talented people in pottery but the level of skill or lack of was never an issue in these classes.

Boxing » RACHAEL O’CONNOR I took part in boxing classes every Monday after games for 6 weeks. To be honest at first I was a bit apprehensive as I had heard from the first group that it was quite challenging. The first day consisted of working on our technique and getting to know our coaches better. For some classes we did skipping to warm up. We learnt different types of punches using the pads as well as putting our fitness to the test by doing suicide runs, squats, planks and burpees. The next few classes were for us to work with our partner on jabs, hooks, crosses and uppercuts with the occasional one on one with our coach where he would call out a series of punches we had to do. The last two classes we were starting to learn how to spar against each other which was basically trying to dodge the punches. My partner was Sarah and we had a lot of fun sparring against each other. I thoroughly enjoyed the boxing course and would seriously recommend doing the boxing classes as they are great for improving your fitness for all sports and defensive skills.

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St . Ge rard ’s S en i o r S c h o ol

E X T R A CU RRIC UL AR ...

Martial Arts » KATHERINE BOLAND In early December all the transition year students had great fun taking part in a two day Martial Arts course. The different techniques we learnt were defence against firearms and knifes, taekwondo kicks and kick boxing. We learnt and practised all these moves on the first day so we could get the hang of taking someone down. On the second day, we were tested on speed and strength. I really enjoyed learning how to protect myself if someone attacks me. It will be very useful in the future.

Public Access to Law » Sarah Kenny

ECDL » GABRIEL BERG

On Tuesday the 24th November, I attended the Public Access to Law Course in school. As so many people signed up for the course we were divided into two groups and I was in the group in the Pavilion.

This year many of us fourth years were given the option to take part in the European Computer Driving Course, or ECDL for short, on the school computers after games or during it. The main focus of the course was to train students in the basic and advanced uses for computers and programmes primarily for office use. The course included lessons in different areas, from Microsoft Office to image editing to hardware basics.

John, our instructor taught us about the basics of law system in Ireland.

We learnt about all the different courts in Ireland such as the District Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court etc. and also about the courts hierarchical systems. After break John swapped roles with his colleague, Mary. Mary played a DVD on two different murder trials. The DVD showed us how the police followed the clues left behind by the murderers that lead to their arrest. I thoroughly enjoyed this part of the day and found it really interesting. I loved watching the way the simplest of things such as a footprint on a window can lead the police to finding the criminal. We then had a quick discussion on the death penalty and the current ISIS situation which I also really enjoyed. I’m now even considering Law as a career!

After lunch John was back and we did a quick quiz on the court systems and other basic principles of Law. John then organised for us to take part in a mock trial case. We were all given scripts and we had to read our parts and decide how we were going to present our side of the case. The case involved two cars in an accident and a fight that followed. I was a member of the jury so I had to decide if the person (Ben) was guilty or not. In the end we decided that Ben was not guilty as some of the stories contradicted each other. The public access to law course was enjoyable and certainly developed my understanding of Law. I think it was something beneficial for me to do as I had arranged work experience in a law firm and at least now I had some information on our law system.

We were taught from a series of classes online that give interactive functionality that makes the experience a lot easier and enjoyable.After doing these classes, we were then given the choice to test our knowledge through the online assessment. If you get above a certain grade then you are qualified in that section and you can move on.

The main benefit of ECDL is in the future when I can put down on my CV that I am fully qualified with most basic programmes on an average computer; so, for anyone else moving into TY, I recommend they do this course - it’s great to learn about modern technology and to keep up to date with it.

Web Summit » John Gleeson The night at the Web Summit was not what I was expecting. My presumption was that it would be an exhibition that we could walk around and explore as well as a technology based series of talks. I got the second part right at least. The range of different talks was vast. There was one on a new type of cancer research, a demo of a new concept to prevent bullying and an intense talk on the importance of clean water in Africa.The best talk was by far the one on Africa. The talk was given to us by the founder of charity ‘Water’. His speech was well delivered, well structured, well themed and brilliantly presented. I’m glad I got the opportunity to go to the Web Summit.

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Steer Clear » ETHAN ROBINSON Steer Clear is a programme to help people learn the theory and the physical driving of a vehicle. Every Tuesday a group of us have had lessons to teach us what we need to know for the Theory Test on Tuesday the 2nd of February.

On the 26th of December, I drove a car. We all had a chance to drive the learner car in the back carpark of the school. To be quite honest, I was just barely going faster than a snail. It was mostly just some good fun because

it was extremely dark and it was very difficult to see the road, which I thought made it more interesting. The instructor helped me a lot when he explained how to change gears and how to reverse park. Even then I still stalled the car, although I think most people did too.

Overall, it was a good experience and I can’t wait to properly learn how to drive a car.

Later on the 2nd of February, I took the Steer Clear Theory test and scored 84%. And the class as a whole did

very well, except I think most people will forever remember Cormac’s close call. During the course I was able to learn the rules of the road, how to change a tyre, car maintenance, and other aspects of vehicles. I felt that this course was very important because in life you need the ability to drive almost anywhere, especially depending on where you live. Overall, it was a great course and a good experience that I highly recommend to any future TY students.

who arrives on scene. We then went on to different examinations you do if you find someone unconscious and the various ways you can save someone if they are choking. We each got a little Annie dummy to practise CPR on.

Did you know that the dummy face is actually a mask taken from a 14 year old girl who drowned in a lake in 1875?

This freaked pretty much everyone out.

We also did the Heimlich manoeuvre to each other.

After lunch we talked about how to bandage people and the different slings you can put them in to help aid their recovery. We also had a competition to wrap a bandage into a circle disk and the winner won a keychain with a mouth to mouth bag in it. I won and Anna Byrne came second.

On the second day, we talked about

the heart. Brian basically told us all the ways we could die and there was nothing we could do about it! He said that 20% of people who suffer from strokes die on the spot and 60% of those that don’t die, have permanent brain damage. He also told us how heart attacks happen and that 40% of women don’t feel anything in their chests while having a heart attack and subsequently cannot be given aspirin (a drug that helps a heart attack by thinning the blood) as it may be a stroke and if you give someone who is having a stroke aspirin, there is a 50% chance of death. Brian also said that within 2 weeks of taking the course, one of the 20 of us would have to perform CPR on someone. Overall ,I really enjoyed First Aid and felt I learned a lot.

First Aid » MARK BOURKE On Thursday the 5th and Friday the 6th of May, the whole TY year, apart from a few who went down to Festina Lente again, took part in a First Aid course.

We were split up, mostly by form, into four groups and sent into different locations around the school campus.

One group went to the sports hall, one to the pavilion, one to the fitness room in sports hall and one (my group) to the Halla Nua. Our instructors name was Brian and judging by what everyone else said about theirs, he is by far the nicest instructor. When we got in, we were given a mouth to mouth thing which looked like a toilet seat mixed with a life jacket, a pair of disposable gloves and a book.

We started off by learning what the definition of first aid was. Simply put, first aid is the role of the first person

BT Young Scientist » Joshua Dargan Hayes In January, I had the unique chance to represent the school, along with Evelyn Clinton (who did a separate project), in the 52nd BT Young Scientist, the largest and longest running science competition of it’s type in the world. I was delighted to receive both a Highly Commended and a Special Award from Nokia for ‘effectively combining ICT with Eco-sustainability’.

My project orientated around a shade, to reduce the risk of skin cancer in the face whilst sun-bathing, combined with a solar panel so users could use the sun’s rays they just blocked to charge any of their USB devices from fans to phones, tablets and kindles. Incorporated into the rear of this shade was an app I had built which would allow individuals to order basic beach necessities and food and drinks directly to their sun-lounger as well as finding out vital tourist information about their chosen holiday destination.

Evelyn’s project was about understanding why people naturally prefer a type of input technology more than others. Then it was about how this would impact future technologies that are still developing. She found it interesting how we as human beings interact with technology on a daily basis, and wondered what types of data input was more attractive and why.

Over the four day event I received a lot of very positive comments from members of the public and industry leaders and Pag e 10

experts, as well as other students from both the Junior and Senior school.

Oh, and let’s not forget those brilliant politicians who were clearly very interested in my project and definitely weren’t focusing on the swarms of media behind me directing them! In summary though, I felt it was absolutely worthwhile experience to have as I’ve attended it so many times and it’s nice to be able to say, been there, done that. Also not only did it give me some contacts in the short term (for work experience) but it’s also a great edition to my CV! St . Ge rard ’s S en i or S c h oo l

WOR K EX PERIENC E ...

Work Experience » TOM CULLEN For my 4th week of work experience I went into my father’s part owned company. The name of it was BCP which stands for Brothers Cullen Partnership. The company is owned by four members of it, two being my father and uncle. I got the bus in each morning which took around 40 minutes, so most

mornings I had to wake up at 6:30 which is very early for me! It was really interesting to see how the business worked. Their building was small with not hundreds of people working in it so I got to know everyone pretty well as I moved around to different departments in the company. Everyone said hello

in the mornings and greeted me very formally which was cool. It was really great to see how an interview with a client actually happened because I had never really seen one before. Overall, it was a really enjoyable week of work experience.

Work Experience » ISAAC PHILLIPS I worked for one week in April with a band called LZ7. The week was based around them performing in a music festival called ‘Higher’ in Manchester.

Whilst with LZ7 I was able to experience the full band life. For example we toured, wrote music, were in a photo shoot for the album cover, filmed for a music video and performed on stage and in schools.

LZ7 is one band in a charity called LIGHT. LIGHT is a family of artists and record label formed to use music to impact people with a positive message in an often dark world. They believe that music is a platform that can grab a generation’s imagination. It is a universal language and a vehicle that can break social barriers, stereotypes of culture, race, background and faith.

They combine performances in schools, with tours, concerts and releasing music to the mainstream charts to speak to young people. They have been face to face with almost 750,000 youth in the last 2 years across the globe in high schools, tours and festivals and have seen some phenomenal changes in young people’s lives as a result.

The main difference between LZ7 and other mainstream bands is that all the members are Christians. It was a privilege to work with them and be part of seeing 1,590 people respond to what they said that week, and committing their lives to God.

One experience that will stay with me was when we performed in the O2 Apollo with the maximum capacity of 3,500 people. I was playing the SPDSX, which stands for sampler pads drum synthesizer machine, an electronic drum machine.

This was my first time ever performing in front of a crowd and it is definitely something I won’t forget. The other highlight that night was at the end of the concert seeing almost 500 youth respond to God and commit to becoming Christians.

The second experience that stood out was when we visited St Ann’s School. In promoting a concert LZ7 will always visit the local schools and do a series of gigs to some of the year groups. In between some of the songs we also talked about God and all that he has done for us, and what he could do for them. This school had recently been put into special measures by OFSTED. It means that the results in the school were so bad that the school was in danger of being shut down. As a result you could see all these kids looked like they just had no hope and nothing to look forward to. I played the SPDSX again which was amazing. The school had given us permission to preach the Gospel and also to give them the opportunity to

become a Christian if the students wanted. It was the first time LZ7 had been able to do that in a class for the 15 years they’ve been together. There was a huge response by the youth to what they heard. In total, we saw about 400 students become Christians that day which completely blew my head off.

We had just experienced God starting a revival in that school.

Although I was only with LZ7 for just a week, it has had a large impact on me.

I have been able to see what it is like to be self-employed in the music industry and to do a job that many people would envy. I have also been able to be part of and see large amounts of people commit their lives to God. This was an amazing experience and one I won’t forget.

8 Week internship with Origin Fitness » Ciaran Caulfield Starting on April 18th 2016 Ethan Baxter and I started an 8 week internship at Origin Fitness in Sandyford. We are working and will continue to work with Gary Brown an ex-Leinster rugby player and fully qualified personal trainer. The 8 week internship consists of theory about movement, nutrition and other things that I have yet to cover. These are all supplied by Gary through the Tra n s itio n Ye a r N e w s 2 0 1 6

sources that he uses on a regular basis. My workload is 7 hours a week of theory and 4 hours a week of training myself and Ethan the movements that we have learnt with the supervision of Gary. When I got prompted with the opportunity I snapped it up because fitness and personal training is an amazing thing and I felt I could utilise this internship to get a summer job. I

made it possible to do this internship while balancing school as well. We do hours in the morning and mostly evenings in the gym. We will be finishing this internship in the middle of June and we will become Junior coaches in the Origin team, hopefully using this to teach a class in the gym or do one on one sessions with clients.

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CO M MUNI TY S E RV I CE . . .

Community Service » CHLOE MARTIN I did my community service week and community service for Gaisce this year in a small organisation called ‘The Dining Room’ in Dun Laoghaire. The objective of the organisation is to feed the homeless, the lonely and the hungry. I work there every Tuesday. They are only open 3 days a week. I help set up the tables and chairs and put out bags of bread and pastries for the people to take away with them, along with tins of soup and any other food that was brought in.

Everybody comes in at around 1 o’clock and the food is served. I sometimes go around to all the tables and take orders of how many people want the starter, main and dessert. There was also fruit, tea and coffee and some cakes and biscuits for them. I mainly work in the kitchen. I usually spend the morning chopping up vegetables and buttering bread and doing whatever I can to help out. I serve up the dishes and clean them away afterwards.

I have done about 15 weeks there and have thoroughly enjoyed it, the longer you work there the more responsibility you can take on and become more a part of the team. The whole experience made me appreciate what I have, especially something like a hot meal or a bed to sleep in at night. We all take so much for granted, and are always wanting the latest iPhone or the newest clothes when there are lots of people who have nothing. It was definitely a worthwhile project,one of the highlights of my TY year.

Svp Hamper Packing »

AMY CARROLL

Students from fourth and fifth year volunteered to bagpack in Dunne’s Stores in Cornelscourt on a Friday in the month of October and again in March to raise money for St. Vincent De Paul. There were four groups, one in the morning from 10-12pm, another from 12-2pm, the third was from 2-4pm and the final one was from 4-6pm. I adored this experience because I got to meet so many new people and I really loved raising money for such an amazing cause like St.Vincent De Paul. In October, we raised the most amount of money that had ever been collected from a bag-packing event for SVP. We managed to raise over €3500 for such a fantastic organisation who help struggling people get the necessities to live happily. I am glad I volunteered to help St. Vincent De Paul and I will definitely be doing it again.

Svp Bag Packing »

AMY CARROLL

Pag e 12

For three classes during the last week of school before Christmas holidays, the fourth year students and the fifth year St.Vincent De Paul conference members dedicated their time making Christmas Hampers for SVP to hand out to those in need.

There were about ten groups, each having twenty boxes to fill up with a set amount of goods such as crisps, soups, jam, tea bags, mince pies, baked beans and much more. Every fourth year student was assigned to a fifth year who were the leaders of the groups. My leader was Claudia Bond. It was the leader’s job to ensure all the boxes contained everything on their list and the correct quantity of each.

For example, each box was to get three different types of soups. Every group completed all their boxes in time for them to be delivered which was fantastic. It was very fulfilling knowing that you had just changed somebody’s Christmas and hopefully made it just that bit better for them and their family. In total we created 400 hampers which were distributed throughout Bray to struggling families. I felt it was an excellent use of time and want to do it again next year.

Fundraising »

AMBER O’SULLIVAN

TY have done an unbelievable amount of fundraising this year. Between raising funds as a year group for Festina Lente and Saint Vincent de Paul or different projects outside of school we have made a massive difference to a lot of people’s lives. A few examples of the fundraising people did outside of school are: Mia McCarthy ran a ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ charity event for her trip to Kathmandu, Jacqueline Magee did a sponsored walk up Croagh Patrick for Ethiopia, I held a coffee morning for Ethiopia and Ben and Sacha organised a disco in aid of Ethiopia. These are just a few of many wonderful fundraisers that have been held. We raised money to fund a Difference Day for Festina Lente to help with the incredible work they do with the disabled. So much work and effort has been put into these fundraisers. However, when you see how much it helps and how a little can go a long way it makes it all completely worth it.

Giving back to people has to be one of the most gratifying feelings. It is so incredible to see how grateful people are for little things that you do for them. It’s fascinating how we are able to help people in our community or people on the other side of the world in similar ways.

I had the trip of a lifetime this year to Ethiopia with the Support Africa Foundation. In my opinion it was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done and would definitely love to do something like it again. TY is definitely the time to do fundraising and give back because you have the time to do it and without a doubt improves what you get out of the year and teaches you so much. When I volunteered for the bag packing for SVP I feel like it was a a very valuable experience to have. It’s taught me to appreciate the people that do charity work and understand that they work hard for something they believe in. It was nice to see how much some people appreciated the help from us and how nice they were about it. Some of the customers from Dunnes Stores Cornelscourt even emailed the school to thank us for being so helpful with the bag packing which I thought was very rewarding. The fundraising we do always go towards charities and organisations that are important to so many people, and without them, a lot of people would lead much different and difficult lives. I will definitely be volunteering for more charity work in the future and I think a the majority of TY will be too.

St . Ge rard ’s S en i or S c h oo l

COM M U N IT Y SERVIC E ...

Difference Day » ZENIA CORSON Difference Day is an annual event whereby Transition Year Students take part in transforming a local charity in just one day. This year Festina Lente was our chosen charity as St. Gerard’s school has a close bond with them. Over the years TY students have volunteered in the horse riding school in order to complete the charity part of their Bronze Gaisce Presidents Award. In order to raise funds to buy paint and building equipment for the Difference Day, all Transition Year students took part in the 17 km ‘Three Peaks Challenge’ where all the students were sponsored to complete the walk. On Friday the 22nd April, we walked down to Festina Lente not knowing what to expect!

The challenge was huge and I don’t think any of us thought that we would be able to achieve our goal. We were asked to: replace the boards in the outdoor arena with new ones, sand down and paint them with two coats of paint, sand down, wash and paint the boards in the indoor arena,

paint the reception, gates, fences, murals for the indoor arena and much more!

White overalls, old clothes, gloves and glasses were distributed and we definitely looked the part. I worked alongside a team painting, washing and sanding boards in the indoor arena. We didn’t delay and completed our task earlier than expected which enabled us to help in other areas.

The transformation was phenomenal, alongside our lovely newly painted walls we hung beautiful murals of horses painted in different seasons by our very own art students.

you cards and a cake was made for us which went down very well. Everyone really enjoyed the day. We all walked back to the school covered in paint from head to toe with many wearing more paint than they actually put on the walls. I feel the day was very successful and is a memory from Transition Year that I will always remember.

At 4pm, we miraculously got the job done after a few tea breaks and great teamwork!

It was great in my opinion to see how the whole year bonded together and worked alongside each other so well to achieve the task in hand. The staff of Festina Lente couldn’t thank us enough for all the work and effort we put in to achieve such a fantastic result. As a sign of their thanks and appreciation we all received thank

Three Peaks Challenge »

DAVID FUREY

On the 20th of April all 80 or so TY students undertook the ‘Three Peaks Challenge’ on the sunniest day of the year thus far. The challenge entailed a 17km trek over the big Sugarloaf ,the small Sugarloaf and finally over Bray Head.

We donned our suncream and boarded a bus bound for the foot of the big Sugarloaf. We began our trek up the mountain and across the motorway towards the little Sugarloaf. I found the ascent up the little Sugarloaf the most challenging due to the steep gradient. Eventually we reached the summit and walked through the picturesque Kilruddery estate before finally reaching our 3rd peak of the day,Bray Head. The views from the peak of Bray Head could only be described as spectacular. We finished off a wonderful day on Bray seafront enjoying both the sunshine and ice cream in equal amounts.

Tra n s itio n Ye a r N e w s 2 0 1 6

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T RI P S .. .

Munich » JANE LOUGHMAN When I heard about the Munich / Nuremberg History trip, I signed up straight away.

Travelling to a new country, visiting historical places and browsing Christmas markets sounded like a dream December weekend to me. And it certainly was! It was definitely one of the highlights of the year for me.

With some fifth and sixth years and a handful of teachers, a few of us TY students flew off very early on a cold Saturday morning, and a few hours later we were browsing the Victual’s Market in Munich before heading on a tour of the city. We visited five beautiful churches, as well as Isar Gate and the Rathouse.

That night, we went to the Tollwood Winter Festival.

Nuremberg was our destination for Sunday!

After an early two hour journey we arrived

at the Documentation Centre Party Rally Grounds for a tour. There was an exhibition, and there I saw a copy of ‘Mein Kampf’! For lunch, we had a look around the Nuremberg Christmas Market. After, we all visited the Nuremberg Trial memorial - it was so fascinating to see the actual court-room the trials took place in! We returned to our hotel in Munich, and for our last night, the group had a browse of Marienplatz.

For the last day, we did the Third Reich tour of Munich - a walking tour that was mainly based on Hitler’s time in Munich and of course, the Third Reich. We visited the Hofbrauhaus, where the Beer Hall Putsch took place, King’s Square, where Nazi Party rallies were held, and loads of other historical sites. For lunch, we had some more time in

Marienplatz, and following that we went to Olympia Einkaufszenturm, a big shopping centre. A lot of damage was done there!

Looking back, this trip really was fantastic. I bonded with not only fourth years, but some fifth and sixth years too. I learnt about one of my favourite parts of history - Hitler and World War Two. I went to a city I had never visited before and I thought it was beautiful. I felt independent, as we were allowed to roam the Christmas markets ourselves. So overall, everything about the trip was memorable.

I love travelling and history, so I was glad I took the opportunity to go to Munich and Nuremberg, Thanks to Mr. Roche and the other teachers who came with us for making the tour very enjoyable. I’ll never forget it.

Switzerland » MARK FINNERTY At 3:30 am I awoke excited to meet Daniel in the airport to depart for Switzerland at 6:40am. Once we arrived in Geneva, we were greeted by one of the schools teachers Mickel. We got the train from the airport to a small mountainous village called Vevéy where there was a family-run school called Chantemerle. We were greeted by the headmaster Monsieur Wegmuller and Anne Wegmuller, his daughter in-law.

Every morning at 7am, we ate breakfast, and then we had class with our teacher Celine. We would have intensive French in the morning from 8 - 1 with a half hour break at eleven.

The headmaster would then take Daniel and I for “one on one” class with him.

At half past one every day, Daniel and I would depart for the slopes where we would practice our French in a different setting. On the weekends the whole school would go skiing so Daniel and I would go with two Russian brothers Bogdan and Rouslan who were amazing skiers. It was a great break from the school setting, but we were still learning.

The food in my opinion was really great. I had “une tartine” for breakfast alongside a cup of Barry’s tea. For lunch, we had spaghetti Bolognese, pasta etc... Dinner consisted of

fillets of salmon, cheese fondue and more. It was all very tasty.

We went on two trips; Daniel and I were reluctant at first to go but we understood that there was an avalanche risk on the mountain.

The trips we went on were to the Nestlé Chocolate Factory and the Olympic Museum.

The trips were much better than I anticipated Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the trip and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wanted to learn French in such a nice environment. I know certainly I would jump at the opportunity to return to École Chantemerle!

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Munic

Munich

Nepal

Nepal » MIA MCCARTHY I spent my October midterm in Kathmandu, Nepal with my dad and a group of 20 Irish people of all ages volunteering for a charity called Indreni.

Indreni Children’s charity is a non profitorganisation registered in Ireland, Switzerland and Nepal with partner charities Sahayta in Germany and Friends of Indreni in California.

Indreni care for children and families and work towards giving them an education and a better life. Their goals are to increase access to education for children in Nepal, to improve the quality of education available in the country, to improve the health of children in their care and to enable and empower girls in their care to receive equal treatment and Pag e 14

education.

There are currently more than 50 children living in the children’s home in Kathmandu where I met them. We took a small tour of the home and I was amazed at what I saw. Boys and girls were on separate floors of the building, there were up to 8 children sharing one room and a whole floor of children sharing one bathroom. There was a small garden where the kids played and they did their laundry on the roof of the building. There wasn’t a lot of room for each of the kids but they’re all very happy with what they have.

Some of the kids there were my age and some even older and I loved seeing them interact with the younger kids. They really acted like

one big family and I think that was important especially after so many of the kids lost family members in last year’s earthquake.

While in Kathmandu, we visited the school that the children go to. We were there to tidy up and paint the school while the kids were on a break for a few days. We spent a few hours painting the walls and brightening up the building.

It was amazing to see where all the money we raised was actually going. I think if anyone gets the chance to go on a trip like this one that they should definitely take the opportunity because it was definitely one of the highlights of my year and the trip of a lifetime!

St . Ge rard ’s S en i or S c h oo l

TRIPS ...

Spain » LAOISE GERAGHTY On Sunday the 5th of April 2016, I took off to Valencia in Spain with Amy and Zenia for 3 weeks! It was such an amazing experience!

We each stayed in different houses with host families to ensure our focus was on speaking Spanish rather than English.

My host family were so lovely and kind. I was very fortunate to have a set of twins my age to stay with and who were so good to me. The family consisted of the mum, Carmen, the dad, Alejandro, the twins Carmen and Alejandra and the youngest, Louis. I got on so well with my family and this made the experience so much better. It took a while to get the hang of the Spanish culture and language but it was so easy once I got it.

School was actually really good and I got

Madrid » JEFF RYAN At the start of January I flew out to Madrid to learn spanish in a boarding school with Isaac Phillips, Jeremy Trane, Paddy Opperman and Max Baxter. Colegio Monfort was the school we stayed in. It was a mixed school with students from ages 4 - 18 years old. Overall there were around 400 students in the school including about 50 to 60 boarders. Most of the boarders left the school on Fridays and returned Sunday night, but others, like us, were stuck there during the weekends.

I shared a room with Jeremy, while Isaac, Paddy and Max had another room. On an average day of school we were woken up

to know everyone. It made it a lot easier that Amy and Zenia were there to make me feel so much more comfortable. We spent the first week and the third week in the school and we met some really nice people and made life long friends. Classes weren’t too hard and we quickly grasped the language. We had two classes a day with private teachers who helped us learn even more Spanish.

We learnt things like verbs and phrases and they kept asking us what we wanted to learn so that we could ask to learn things that we wanted to learn for our Leaving Cert.

One Saturday, my family packed up and moved into the city of Valencia for the week of Fallas. Fallas is the biggest festival in Spain and it is held annually. Each year huge statues

at 8 a.m to get ready for breakfast at 9. We would start class at 9:30 and have two breaks during the day for lunch. Our first break was 30 minutes long while our second break was around an hour and a half long. For our breaks we mostly played football with all the other Spanish students. During the school day we had four hours of regular class with the other students until 3 in the afternoon. From 3 to 5 p.m., we had a specially designated Spanish classes with a man named Adelardo. After his class we had an hour of free time before having another class with him at 6 p.m. We then had an hour of study before receiving our dinner.

Usually we would then return to our rooms and had free time until the lights were turned off at eleven. On the weekends, we were

are built and on the last day of the festival they are burnt to the ground. The statues were absolutely beautiful! The only way I can describe Fallas is that it is like St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland multiplied by a hundred! I even got to dress up as a “Fallera Girl” which was a huge honour! It was amazing to see loads of generations gathering together for one week and it really helped my Spanish as I got to meet loads of new people everyday and I had loads of different conversations. Throughout the week my family brought me to so many different places including the town square, we went shopping and they even brought me to a football match! Spain was definitely one of my favourite experiences in 4th year!

woken up at nine o’clock instead of eight. We would then have breakfast and usually after we’d study (if we had to) or play football until we got the bus into the centre of Madrid at 12.

Once we reached the bus station we would hop on the Metro which would bring us to the main square. We would usually get some food first, then use the wifi in the Apple Store, sometimes do some shopping, or depending on the day find a place to watch the rugby as the Six Nations was on. We would then arrive back at the school in time for dinner and then have free time in the evening. Overall I have to say I enjoyed my experience abroad in Madrid and felt it really improved spanish.

Switze

rland

Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia » JACQUELINE MAGEE During the Easter holiday I went on a charity trip to Ethiopia. The TY’s traveling included myself Amber O’Sullivan, Jane Loughman, Jack O’Caoimh, Ben Morris, Conor Bevan, Daniel McGovern and Sacha McGrath, and we each travelled with a parent/guardian.

There were also people from outside the school traveling and some from younger years. In total there were 37 trekkers traveling.

We went with the Support Africa Foundation.

The Support Africa Foundation focuses on empowering women in Ethiopia to generate their own income and their aim for this trek was to raise €70,000 for the project over in Ethiopia, which we did. They have a training centre in Aleltu, which was an hour from the Tra n s itio n Ye a r N e w s 2 0 1 6

capital, Addis Ababa. They also have a day care centre and a shop area in Adigrat which is far north of Addis Ababa. For this trip we had to raise at least €2,500 per family (parent & child). I travelled with my mom and for our fundraising we did a sponsored climb up Croagh Patrick. We raised €3,480 all together.

This money goes directly to the Support Africa Foundation in which they use to improve their projects. During the trip we saw the complete other side to this world. We got to see how Ethiopians live their lives and how much it differs to they way we live. Overall, the trip was such an unbelievable experience. I was very taken back by the whole trip but loved every minute of it, even though it was hard

at times. I really was inspired by the people over there, they are friendly and kind and so welcoming. We met a lot of amazing people, like the women who work at the daycare centre. They are like second mothers to the children and take care of the children like their own. I really enjoyed this trip and I think it is so important to get an experience like that and see how people live in such challenging conditions. The Support Africa Foundation have done amazing work over in Ethiopia and helped so many women and children and families and I feel so privileged to have had the chance to support an amazing charity and country!

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Courses . . .

Wesley Mun » CIAN KELLY-LYTH USA: ‘Well, y’know I think we should just like, nuke the whole Middle East’ Me: ‘Delegate, I’m not really sure that you understand the severity of your proposal.’

USA: ‘No because then it’s like, hey, what are you gonna fight over?’

That was an extract from an exchange between myself and the delegate representing the USA. I’m fairly sure he was either joking or advocating for the

Republican wing of his Government.

So, Model United Nations can maybe be best described as a large amount of teenagers pretending to be world leaders, speaking a lot but saying little.

Everyone partaking has to represent a country assigned to them and argue for or against proposals based on what their country believes. Therefore, it’s always the most fun to be North Korea, sarcastically arguing to replace every

holiday with ‘Glorious Leader Appreciation Day’. One thing that shocked me was that it was legal to bribe the officials to favourite you over others. I took full advantage of this rule and, being the ambassador for Syria, slipped a moderator a packet of Starbursts with the note ‘A Syria-sly good bribe, no?’ Unfortunately, the bribe mustn’t have been good enough and my resolution got shot down. Oh well, maybe next time!

TY University Courses » SARAH KENNY Transition Year is an opportunity for many students to head out into the “outside” world and see what life will be like when we leave school. There are a wide range of courses and programmes available to us TY students and if you have any interest in any particular area of work you are guaranteed to find something that will satisfy you.

This year the school facilitated and many students in my year took advantage of this opportunity and attended courses in DCU, Trinity College and with other big companies and organisations. Some students

attended as frequently as once a week or others attended week long courses.

Trinity College runs week long TY Courses on everything from Botany to Medicine and they were very popular with students in our year. Everybody chose different courses, we all found them very beneficial. Jane Loughman tried the Computer Science course, Nicolaas Walle and Cian Kelly Lyth undertook a weekly journey to DCU to study Management Accounting and Psychology, Anna Byrne had a sampler in Bioengineering, Mark Fagan in Science and I took a course in Nursing

and Midwifery. We all thoroughly enjoyed them and definitely got insights into college life and also into what the college courses involve.

Daniel Harbourne also attended a programme run by the Bar of Ireland.

Daniel also agreed that it was very worthwhile and gave such an insight into what working with law might involve. Overall everybody that took part in these courses had very positive feedback and really enjoyed their time spent in colleges/workplace.

The Bar Of Ireland » DANIEL HARBOURNE I was chosen to partake in a Transition Year programme that was run by the Bar of Ireland. After a lottery, 100 places were given to schools all over Ireland. Professionally speaking, it’s not really allowed for barristers to take students on during TY. This programme offers students who are interested to gain an understanding of life at the Bar. Each morning until lunch, 5 of us would would shadow a junior barrister around wherever he went. Some Pag e 16

mornings it might have been going to the Four Courts, or other times it might have been the Criminal Courts of Justice. I was surprised that the public had so much access to the proceedings of the trials and the court in general.

In the afternoon, we would take tours of places such as the King’s Inns, a school that is compulsory for anyone who wishes to be a barrister in Ireland, and also a tour of the old Law Library situated inside the Four Courts. We

also received a very interesting talk from Francesca Cummins, leading court reporter of Newstalk.

On the last day we each participated in a mock trial, that after seeing the trials all week, actually allowed us to feel the pressure of speaking in an actual historic court. I thoroughly enjoyed the week and would recommend it for anyone who has an interest in pursuing a career in Law.

St . Ge rard ’s S en i o r S c h o ol

Courses / T Y E xperience ...

Young Economist Of The Year » RIAN O’MAHONY The Young Economist of the Year (of course, commonly known as “YEOTY”) is an event which only the intelligent and far-future visionaries enter to put forward economically related projects.

It is vital that the reader takes note of the previous truth stated as it will arise repeatedly throughout the reading.

It was the turning of one year to another when our Economics teacher introduced us to it. Since a project of the highest quality was expected from all of her students, it was offhandedly mentioned that we may also like to enter in a contest expecting no less.

Soon, my close companion Cian and I were working side by side on a project that would clear the clouded sight beheld by most people of the world (or more accurately, “sheeple” of the world). The project was established around Corruption in US Politics. I can not easily explain in words the actuality of what we learned, but know that if I could, the comfort you live in now from a world you think you comprehend would disappear, the same way fish left in the presence of a hungry feline might! This is also due to the fact that the experience was primarily optical due to tactfulness demonstrated by myself.

The occasion was to take place in the City West Hotel. For now I hope the reader will put aside any positive or negative thoughts they might have relative to the hotel in the hope it does not impose a bias upon their opinion on the YEOTY. Upon arriving our signatures were taken (not out of recognition, for our findings had not quite made us celebrated yet) and we were given our very own YEOTY

booklets, containing all the projects entered, and the title of the worker proudly tied to it. All except for one... my own. The first defeat of the day. I began to fret that if we were to prevail and return with laurels, that I might not return with anything and may have been completely forgotten about.

It was as I made a remark (and if I may say so, a rather witty one!) that the accompanying teacher Ms Laura Kealy, told me the story of how I was also forgotten on the main role for the event received by all teachers. I put my dismay to bed and decided to enjoy the event, spoils or none. Once we traversed the dangerous escalator, we entered a large and vast room, packed with chairs and people, and waited for the ceremony to begin.

The first twenty projects or so appear vague in my memory, as do the following twenty or so. A few were worthy of memory. One in particular (which must have been written by a mad conspiracist) had presented the facts that products we had been happily buying throughout our lives were shrinking in size however maintaining their price! This infuriated the crowd and for an instant I expected law enforcers to return the peace, but they calmed down. For this reason, I hoped our project would be shown, leading to the horrible truth surrounding US Politics. After what seemed like a long time, finally the moment came, all too soon one might remark. For you see, reader, we were not to be crowned Young Economists of 2016. The title bestowed upon us by the power of the PDST is Gold Commendation For Creating

Awareness. Ironically, our findings were not displayed for all in the room to see.

Does the reader recall when I mentioned how our project was established around Corruption in US politics? No? Simply refer to line eight and continue reading. This is important because we were told from an inside source of YEOTY that the main reason we were not chosen to win, was relevant to “how absolutely off topic it was.” A simple minded person may choose to believe this. However, those of us who chose to lift our heads above the mass to see where the herd moves will notice how our project was largely critical of the way in which US Politics is run. Those who have made it into a politically powerful position of one of the world’s superpowers may not want the information entering the public eye. Now, I’m not saying that correlation equals causation, more than I am simply giving the reader something to ponder.

TY - The International Experience » JULIA SERRA SEMIS An amazing experience. That’s how I’d describe this TY year in St. Gerard’s School. It has gone so fast. We’ve done lots of activities like the musical, the camping trip and Carlingford Adventure centre and so many more. We did lots of small trips and activities that I particularly enjoyed a lot. The organization and the effort and time that the teachers spend making this year such a success for us is incredible. Personally I’m so glad that I’ve spent this year in Ireland and in this school. For me, it has been the best school year ever.

It’s not easy to start with a new family, a new school, new friends and a new language but St. Gerard’s Senior school made it so much easier for us. This year was a great opportunity to improve our English and get to know people, and that’s what we did.

Now, we’ll soon be leaving with new, great friends, new skills, good English and a year filled with memories that we’ll never forget.

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SP O RT . . .

ATHLETICS » RACHEL WHITTEN On Wednesday the 27th and Thursday the 28th of April, the East Leinster Schools Track and Field Championships took place in Morton Stadium in Santry. Paddy, Donal, Tom and I were competing on the first day and Amy, Robyn, Laoise, Jackie, Anna, Tom, Mark, Ben, Sam and Paddy were competing on the second day. It felt like a really long journey out on the bus to Santry, because we were all extremely nervous prior to our events, but in the end it was

definitely worth it.

In the competition, Robyn and Amy threw the shot putt, Donal, Anna and Tom did high jump, Paddy ran the 100m, Paddy, Laoise and Mark ran the 200m, Tom did long jump, Sam and Jackie ran the 800m, Cormac, Ben and Paddy ran the relay and I threw the javelin.

After two difficult days of competitions, we came back with five medals amongst us.

Paddy won gold in the 100m and 200m, I

won gold in the javelin, Robyn won bronze in the shot putt and Tom won bronze in the high jump. It was a great result for the Transition Year students, to have been so successful, especially considering we had less training time due to other trips and activities. Paddy, Tom, Robyn and I will compete in the Leinster Schools Track and Field Championships on the 14th of May, and we can’t wait - hopefully we can add to the Transition Year medal collection.

Hockey » Laoise Geraghty

The Transition years had a very successful year in Hockey, the Junior B’s, Junior A’s , Senior C’s, Senior B’s and Senior A all did well this year.

Sadly the Junior B’s didn’t qualify for the playoff stages of the league but they did enjoy some very good matches including their great win over High School. What a great achievement for the Junior A’s to get to the semi final of the plate but unfortunately the day was not theirs.

The Senior thirds had a great season and had some great wins including their win over Foxrock and St. Raphaella’s , they

unfortunately lost to Wesley in the league.

Academy Team(Senior 2’s): The Senior 2nd’s had a fantastic season and had very little losses. Some of their best games included their win over Wesley, High school and Foxrock. They succeeded in reaching the Semi- Final of the League which was amazing but unfortunately they lost to Alexandra College in what was a very close game. The Senior First’s had a very successful season. They had a poor start to the year in the league and unfortunately got knocked out in a draw with Andrews.

They had an amazing comeback and came

out guns blazing for the Cup. Their first cup match proved a fantastic and historic win over Mount Anville and the victories continued from there. They they reached the final against Alexandra College but Alex were the better team on the day. Both I and Robyn Murray were fortunate enough to be part of this team.

From the beginning of the year with Pre season training to the last match in March the TY girls have shown great commitment to hockey.Hopefully next year everyone will be as committed and the teams will come back even stronger.

Cormac and I were called up to play with the Seconds against the ‘Northern Giants’ Castletroy. We won that game with a comfortable lead. After this game there wasn’t much talk about Cormac, Adam and I until the league game against Wesley when Cormac and I were put on the bench for the Firsts. Harry Happonen got injured within the first minute and I was brought on. Then Cormac was brought on not too long after.

The first big game for Cormac and I was the Cup qualifier against Wesley and that was a great game! The game was won by one try. The try scorers were Billy the captain, Matt Dalton and I. Our league journey ended sadly in the semi-final against Roscrea in Donnybrook. After this

we were all buzzing for the big day; the Cup Day. This day was the day that the whole school comes and watches you and the team play.

Cormac and I were the only fourth years to be picked to start. We were up against a team that we had beaten before in the league, CBC Monkstown. The game was one point difference all the way through to the final whistle. The final score was 13-12 sadly in the favour of CBC Monkstown. The tries were scored by Mark Baker and Matt Dalton.

Overall this year rugby started off fairly scattered but ended up great and I can’t wait for next year!

RUGBY » ETHAN BAXTER After the Junior Cup, we were all looking forward to a nice casual year of rugby and I guess you could say we got that. All the matches before Christmas were a great way to prep ourselves for the Senior Cup Team. We had two matches we can all remember; one that wasn’t too great and that was against Blackrock and well, we didn’t exactly turn up for this game; we lost 40-14 with two tries from Paddy and I. Then, straight after this game we played against CUS, with a helping hand from some 5th years. We didn’t want the same loss again so we stepped up our game and won with a comfortable lead. The score was 60-5 with a couple of tries from everyone on the team.

After the Christmas holidays Adam,

HORSE RIDING » CORMAC FOLEY Over the course of the month of October I was given the opportunity to travel to France and Switzerland to showjump. I grabbed the opportunity to travel and I am glad I did, as it was a very memorable experience. About seven Irish riders travelled out to the two shows. The whole journey started in Rosslare Harbor where a group of us met as we were to travel together. The journeys are normally long and boring, but not this one. Although it was certainly still long, taking us about 2 days to travel to the show in France, it certainly involved many challenges - getting lost in London City and the truck breaking down being some of the obstacles we faced.

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I enjoyed the show in France and was pleased with my placing; 6th on the first day and 4th in the Grand Prix on Sunday.

The show in Switzerland didn’t start until the following Wednesday so an impromptu trip to Disneyland in Paris kept us busy in the meantime. It was a quiet, wet day in Disneyland but a truly enjoyable experience. The show in Switzerland began well I was placed 4th in the class on the first day, which meant I was on the Nations Cup Team on Friday along with three others.

Unfortunately we finished a disappointing fourth overall. All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

St . Ge rard ’s S en i o r S c h o ol

R E FL EC TION ...

A Reflection on TY » Jane Loughman I don’t think any school year will top Transition Year. I did so much more than I expected to do, and enjoyed every minute of it. If you talked to my Third Year self and told her about all the things I did in TY, she’d look you straight in the eye and say: “You must be joking!

All of that?”

One of my absolute favourite things about fourth year, something that continued for the academic year, was blogging. Instead of filling out logbooks, our year got to account every activity we did online on our own blogs. This was easy to get into for me, as I’m already an avid fashion and beauty blogger. Writing about everything I did in TY and sharing it on the internet was very satisfactory. I got to show off my writing ability as well as my photography skills (I took a lot of photos - I think they take up 60% of my blog to be honest.)

I got out of my comfort zone. I became a Ukraine delegate in the Model United Nations, and I made a speech about women’s rights in the Soroptimist competition. I went scuba diving, which is hard to believe, and I want to go again! I got closer to different people in my year through the camping trip and school tours.

I showed off my talents. I was Patty Simcox, not Jane Loughman, on stage for our musical “Grease” - one of the biggest highlights of my year. I acted as a crazy fan girl in our Kairos TV show, and I don’t regret it. I kept up with my creative writing by doing the Centre for Talented Youth Ireland Writing Correspondence Course, and shared my assignments on my blog. A piece of fiction I wrote was displayed at the VUE exhibition in

the RHA gallery on Ely Place next to a Conrad Frankel painting.

of other fourth years, so there’s still something exciting to look forward to !

I got involved. I joined the Young Social Innovators, finished my Gaisce, worked on the newsletter team, became the co-captain of the Junior B’s in hockey, and joined Three Rock hockey club. I volunteered for Saint Vincent de Paul, became a Faith Friend, helped out in the Bray Lakers arts and crafts classes, fundraised for different causes through bake sales and hikes.

Reflecting on my year, I wouldn’t make it any different. I made so many incredible memories, and I wish it wasn’t about to end!

I tried things out. I know for sure I’d like to be a writer of some sort in the future, but despite this, I tried out different things to get different experiences. I was in the Mater Hospital for work experience, and I really loved that week - but now I know for sure I don’t want to be a doctor or nurse, but maybe I could work in a hospital as something else. I went to a primary school, and maybe I’d like to be a teacher. I did the Computer Science course in Trinity, and I don’t think I’ll study that, but I got the university experience.

I went to the Criminal Courts for a day, even though I doubt I’ll be a barrister I really enjoyed it. I learnt first aid in a ten week Order of Malta course. I played golf weekly - after years of being ‘just a beginner’, I’m now at least able to say I’m a bit better than a beginner!

I travelled; to Munich for an amazing Christmas weekend learning about World War II; to Ethiopia with Support Africa after raising money for their projects - that was the adventure of a lifetime.

And that’s not even everything I did, or everything I’m going to do! In June, I’m going on the Camino trip with a bunch

If I was to give advice to upcoming fourth years, it is to say yes to everything.

It doesn’t matter what your interests are - TY is the year to get out of your comfort zone, get involved, show off your talents, travel and try things out.

It’s in your control. If you want to be able to say ‘I did loads in fourth year’, then you have to make it happen yourself. I definitely did.

IT I FEEL p as I jum I feel it at of the song. g, e gin To the b screaming, sin g. , g lo in ht n Sweat g, all nig in c a r t Hear with as I sit y night; it l e e f a I on a Frid ch Friends ughing with ea . la t , h g ig Smilin es shining br y e , r e Oth up as I run I feel it y pitch. I soar, g, tin ke The hoc tackling, sprin ore. , c g s n d li n b a e Drib to strik e c n a h c My e as I writ w I feel it ords I want flo w e h t n And my pe rows. w from And flo ge. The story g a p To the . as I live I feel it

Piano » SANI MCNALLY I feel that this year was really good in terms of how I developed my musical skills in piano. I learned many new techniques and new pieces including one of the hardest compositions I have had to perform to date, “Au Bord d’une Source” by Liszt. This piece is different to others I have played because the style is new to me, it involves a lot of fast parts with very large jumps between the notes.

I started the year knowing that I would be doing my Grade 8 piano exam. I got a Distinction in this exam which I was very proud of as it is the highest grade. I

Tra n s i tio n Ye a r N e w s 2 0 1 6

played in many competitions and various concerts throughout the year, including playing in the Royal Irish Academy of Music on Culture Night. My first two competitions in TY were the R.I.A.M Pianofest competitions. In one Cup, I got the award for the best classical piece, and I came second in the other. I think that my most accomplished piece was the first movement of Beethoven’s Sonata number 12; I feel that this is because I got a masterclass from Dr. John O’Connor on this composition. Then I played in the Arklow Music Festival and Feis Ceoil

Junior Pianoforte Solo (A) Under 17’s on the same day and won both! The Feis Ceoil is a national competition that I have entered every year since I was ten years old. I was later told that from the Pianoforte Solo (A), I had won the Junior Piano Rose Bowl, which is awarded to the player who gets the highest marks in the Under 17 or Under 15 competition. I would like to thank my piano teacher Lance Coburn for encouraging and helping me through the year.

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www.stgerards. ie

Newsletter edited by Jane Loughman.

Photos by Joshua Dargan Hayes