St. Gerard's School Transition Year Newsletter 2017 - 2018

Music Festival

TY

St. Gerard’s School

Transition Year

2017-2018

TY Activ i t i e s

Blogging - What's it all about ? » Jessica Mc Donald & Molly Stening ‘A website containing a writer’s or a group of writers’ experiences, views and opinions.’That is what the dictionary will tell you, but all TY’s in St Gerard’s know that ‘blogging’ can be about a whole lot more than that. To help give an understanding of exactly what is involved in Blogging in TY, I interviewed a TY student, Jessica Mc Donald and asked her to explain a little about it.

What is a TY Blog?

In TY a blog is online account of our TY year using words, videos and pictures to reflect our experiences in TY. Each and every student’s blog contains different reflections on activities and/or experiences they enjoyed in TY,what they learned, enjoyed or maybe found challenging about the new experiences the year offers.

How do the students use the blogs?

So, every student in fourth year has the responsibility to regularly update their blog and keep it to a high standard. We use a website software called Weebly to create our blogs. Each student writes/ records their own TY experiences to their blog to reflect on their journey. Teachers read and sign off on our posts to ensure that the information is safe to go online.Everyone’s blog is unique - no two blogs are the same, they are an individualised way to express our TY experience to the world!

Where do the blogs go?

The websites/blogs that we created are on the internet itself and are available for everyone to see through the TY link on the school website. Parents, teachers, students even future employers can check out our online Blogs. These blogs that we create during our TY year can help us to improve/build our social media profile while learning also about internet safety proceedures How often do Students blog?

This is different for everyone. We are supposed to write our reviews within 3 days of completing an activity, some students are much better at this than others and we get credit for this in our final TY grading. Some students used blogging as their personal skill for Gaisce, ensuring they had to spend at least an hour a week on it. It’s easy to fall behind with so much going on. I’d definitely advise students doing TY to try to keep up with it as activities are happening as you could end up with a lot to do before the end of term gradings if you fall behind.

Why not check out our student blogs by going to the TY link on our school website and clicking on ‘Blogs’.

Steer Cleer » Molly Stening Between the dates of 28th of September - 8th of March, I completed the Steer Clear Driving Education course. This course was taught by Ian Flemming who had been teaching this course to St Gerards students for over 5 years now. Over the 13 weeks, we had classes from 5:15pm -6:30pm every Tuesday and Thursday evening. In these classes, Ian taught us facts and key information that we needed to know before experiencing driving on the road. He displayed the information on powerpoint slides and showed us videos relating to the newly learnt information. One of the activities we did was replacing a flat tire. Ian brought us step by step as to how to take off the wheel, rise the car with a jack and unscrew the screws off the wheel. At the end of every class, Ian did a 10 question quiz relating on the information we had learnt that day. By the time our course came to an end,we sat a final 50 question exam to help determine how well we had learnt during the course. If we completed the exam and got 35 or more questions answered correctly, we earned a pass in the course and received a 100 euro voucher for our first car insurance payment. Overall, I really enjoyed the Steer Clear Driving Education.

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St . Ge rard ’s S en i o r S c h o ol

T Y Ac tivities

Eagle’s Flight Workshop

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The Eagle’s Flight workshop was not only educational but it was a fun and enjoyable way for us to face challenges together as a year. We were divided into teams of six and were given a task to play a board game called ” The Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine“. We were

Alex Loughlin given limited resources and the only way for us to get more resources was to trade between teams. The only way to succeed in the game was to plan ahead and communicate as a team to find the solution. The workshop was a really fun way to learn and focus on key

Martial Arts

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skills that will help us to plan for anything in the future in order to gain maximum success. I really enjoyed the day, as I was new to the school, the group work was a great way for me to get to know some other students in my class.

Alex Glynn

Between Martial Arts and Boxing, this years TY’s are a force to be reckoned with! Our two day Martial Arts Course taught us many different ways to defend ourselves in an attack. We watched real life examples of fights and situations where the victim’s initial decision would determine the outcome.Then it was down to the Sports Hall for the physical aspect of the course, learning our defence skills.

The physical part of the course was really enjoyable and the skills we learnt were practical and effective in a real life scenario. We all worked in groups and were given a punch pad to use and practise skills on. We learnt 10 defensive skills and also a few ‘take down’ skills which completely trapped the opponent. We also learnt how to disarm an opponent and finished with some kickboxing and Taekwondo moves for good measure. We laughed, we punched, we kicked, some even cried but all in all we had an exhausting but exciting two days.

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TY Acti v i t i e s . . .

Carlingford Âť Adrian Ojeda Villegas & Suki - Beth Farrar The Transition Year outdoor adventure week in Carlingford was a brilliant action packed experience I will never forget. The whole year group took part in challenges such as Laser Tag in the forest, canoeing in the freezing Irish sea, traversing the Sky Park, archery, disc golf and our favourite, Ziptopia.This thrilling obstacle course was located in a forest, above, what looked like, an abandoned quarry.

Zipping across the quarry was a truly exhilarating experience that ensured our adrenaline levels were running on high.

Teamwork was a key part of many of the activities we took part in during our stay in Louth. Some activities,

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such as the Crystal Maze, tested the students patience, logical, athletic and leadership skills, all the groups worked together superbly.

Back in the Adventure Centre students relaxed watching the Winter Olympics, taking full advantage of the neighbouring sweet shop and sports hall.

Carlingford certainly brought our year closer together, cementing relationships we will hold dear for many more years. For me it was one of the best trips this year, it was a great experience that pushed us outside our comfort zones in a really interactive and fun way.

St . Ge rard ’s S en i or S c h oo l

T Y Ac tivities

Camping Trip » Adele O Reilly From start to finish our trip to Lough Dan was truly an unforgettable experience!

We didn’t allow the typically miserable Irish weather to dampen our spirits and thankfully the rain stopped in time for us to erect our tents.Our mountain of luggage was almost as tall as the surrounding mountains, there was barely space for the students to get on the bus!

When we arrived at the campsite, we were faced with our first challenge.

Erecting a tent is not as easy as it looks! ‘The Barn’ soon became an arena of many card games. In the evenings, everyone huddled around the bonfire, listening to music and enjoying each other’s company .

After a cosy night in our tents and an early morning, the noticeable aroma of bacon and toast coming from ‘The Barn’ was enough to draw everyone from their tents.It truly felt like home and a hearty breakfast gave us fuel for the 21 km hike we would complete to satisfy our Gaisce adventure challenge. We packed all the necessary items, such as water, food and water-proof clothing, and set off on our little adventure. The hike itself was quite challenging and was filled with constant changes in terrain. From steep hills to boggy and muddy ground,woodland paths to country roadways. Everyone completed the hike, and for our hard work, we were rewarded with the scenic beauty of the Wicklow Mountains (and a burger when we got back).

By the last night at our fire,everyone had grown and bonded that bit more with each other, we relaxed and chatted after the long, tiring day. The following morning, we were all up early and worked together to pack up and clean the campsite. The camping trip was a great start to what proved to be a great year!

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TY Acti v i t i e s . . .

Legally Blonde – TY Musical » Rachel Morris Every year the transition year do a fantastic musical, for me when I was in 1-3rd year it was all I looked forward to when I imagined my TY year.

Watching all of the brilliant productions of the past had set the bar high but everybody was so excited to be able to take part in one of the major events in the TY calendar.

The auditions and preparations for the musical began in November. We had singing and acting auditions with Ms. Jackie Olahan and dancing auditions with Aisling Doyle, the choreographer and director.

We eagerly awaited the announcement of which Musical we would perform and were all delighted to hear it would be ‘Legally Blonde’. Not one person was disappointed with the choice as it is such an upbeat, funny and interesting musical for our age group.

Once the auditions for certain characters began it became clear who had a real talent for the stage, this whole process was so much fun to be a part of. The lead, Elle Woods, was played by Abbie McCarthy, accompanied by our male lead Luke Shanahan, who played the character Emmett Forest. When the dance rehearsals began I immediately realised this was going to live up to my expectations. The rehearsals gave everybody a chance to be a part of the musical even if you didn’t have that much interest, it gave all the opportunity to get to know different people and to widen and develop friendships. It gave many people the chance to become more involved with school life and their friends.

Rehearsals were one of the best parts to the show in my opinion, everybody had so much fun dancing and singing and just getting to know each other in a way we would never have done if the musical wasn’t a part of TY. I never thought that something like this would have such an impact on people.

While the dates for the shows crept closer and closer, tensions ran high while trying to bring the show together. Practicing with the band and on stage was different to just listening to the track in the halla nua like we were all used to.

The week of the show, February 5th-8th, was definitely one of my favourite weeks in TY as everybody was so lively and ready to show our parents and the rest of the school what we had been doing for the last few months. Although I didn’t relish the thought of performing to our peers in the Senior School, we all over came that challenge and put on a good show. We all thoroughly enjoyed our performances for our parents.The atmosphere backstage and in the hours before and after the productions was surreal. I didn’t believe something like the musical would bring everyone so much closer as a year group. Personally, I think that if the musical wasn’t a big part of TY or it wasn’t compulsory for everyone to take part in, our year would not be as close or as comfortable with each other as we are today, and I am so thankful for having that opportunity to get to know these people like I do now. The musical is definitely one of the highlights of my transition year so far and I’ve no doubt that it will remain as one of my favourite school memories forever.

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St . Ge rard ’s S en i o r S c h o ol

T Y Ac tivities

Kairos

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Conor Pickering

During the month of October, the whole of TY took part in the Kairos workshop. A workshop that would challenge us with creating a short TV Show. We were in charge of preparing a script, casting presenters and actors, camera and sound work and formating a short show.

On arrival at the recording studio we had but 40 minutes to complete our scripts and final plans for the show. While

TY Reflection

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Amy Mac Nulty and Benjamin Hogan

Transition Year in St Gerard’s has been a fantastic year and a memorable experience. It is safe to say that we have all matured and developed as students and as members of society. From receiving our Junior Certificate results to walking out of our TY interview, our year has been filled with amazing new experiences that have bonded this class into a tight-knit family.

We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to go on trips away together, such as camping at Lough Dan and Carlingford. It was on these trips that our year group matured together and we formed strong friendships that will last forever.

Our classes participated in activities such as Eagle’s Flight, Kairos, Martial Arts and First Aid, where we learnt valuable life skills. These newly- found skills will help us in a number of situations in the future.

This year we also had the opportunity to visit universities such as DCU and DIT. These were great experiences as we were given an insight as to what college life might be like. It also helped some students make a more informed decision on their subject choices.

Throughout the year we were allocated certain weeks where we could take part in work experience and community service.

Although different for each student, these work placements provided new experiences for all and a valuable understanding

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some ran through their lines or added the finishing touches to their costumes, the Director, Sound Mixer, Visual Editor and Camera operators were taken to the studio and shown how all the equipment worked. Soon we were ready for our rehearsals ‘take one’. Thankfully they ran very smoothly, although I’m not sure we have RTE’s next big presenter in our year we certainly did have a good time.

of life in a workplace. It also helped students to gain a clearer idea of what they would like to do in the future. The community service placements allowed us to give back to our community and were extremely rewarding.

Students also were given a choice of extra -curricular activities to further expand our skill set. Examples of these include Public Access to Law, scuba diving, boxing, steer clear and photography. These courses were both beneficial and great fun!

Arguably the highlight of the year, the musical “Legally Blonde” was a life changing two months. We had a lot of responsibility as we worked as a team to create an enjoyable production.

We grew closer together and everyone came out of their shell.

The musical completely transformed our year for the better.

The members of Y.S.I also had a very busy year. We raised a lot of money with carol singing, bag packing and letter drops. It was a great way to give back to our community and we really feel that we made a difference.

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All in all, Transition Year has been a year that we will always remember. It has been a year of bonding, developing and maturing. Thanks to the amazing experiences, we feel ready to take on the challenges of the years to come. We have grown stronger as year group and will always be grateful for these experience. We are all incredibly proud of our school, each other and ourselves.

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EXTRA C U R R ICU LAR . . .

Photography Course » Daniel McGonnell One of the extra curricular options available to Transition Year students is a photography course with professional portrait photographer Úna Armstrong. Consisting of four small student groups, it is safe to say that this course was a resounding success.

Taking place in a room above the sports hall, students were first briefed on how to correctly handle a camera. The fundamentals of portraiture were explained to us novices, and we were soon experimenting on our own. The importance of light in photography was stressed, as we played around with natural light from Windows, reflecting it back and forth so as to capture that “twinkle” in the eye. Úna was a wonderful instructor, engaging us all and not spending too much time demonstrating, but rather allowing us to have a try ourselves and discover things on our own. As a result, we all got plenty of camera time. As we posed in pairs and groups, much laughter went around, and it was a highly enjoyable experience for us all. At the end, a group shot was taken as a final memento for an incredible day learning a new skill, courtesy of the kind contribution of Úna Armstrong and the TY Co-ordinator for arranging this course.

Barista Course » Sally Ann Noonan This year we were given an opportunity to participate in a ten week Barista Course which took place every Saturday from 3-4pm in the 9th degree cafe on Westmoreland Street. The course offered a full barista certificate and a three hour work placement in the cafe.

We learnt about the origin of different types of coffee,how coffee is made and practiced and perfected the base of coffee base before graduating to espressos, cappuccinos and lattes.We artistically designed and created ‘latte art’ and learned about the different flavours and measurements of different coffees and what makes them all so unique. As part of the course we had to complete at least 3 hours of work experience in a coffee shop, this gave us the opportunity to put all we had learned to the test.

Overall, the course was well worth doing and everyone really enjoyed it. Eighteen students took part in the course and we now have the abilities and experience that will enable us to work in a cafe. This might come in handy for a Summer job!

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St . Ge rard ’s S en i o r S c h o ol

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EX 15.

T R A CU RRICUL AR ...

Scuba Diving

Scuba Diving » Lois Honan In TY we are offered the opportunity to take part in many different extracurricular activities. This term 40 of us took part in an introduction to scuba diving course. The course consisted of a theory class, which took place in the school and a practical class which took place in the National Aquatic Centre.The instructors talked us through the guidelines and safety procedures involved in scuba diving and a few days later we all headed off to the National Aquatic Centre to put theory into practice in the pool. We donned our wetsuits and were given all the appropriate gear required for scuba diving

and each group spent about an hour in the pool learning how to use the equipment while swimming underwater. We all thoroughly enjoyed the experience and had a lot of fun.

Scuba Diving is not as easy as it looks. I personally found scuba diving quite difficult, it took me a long time to get the hang of it, although it looks lovely and relaxing it can be quite claustrophobic, I hadn’t anticipated this. If TY is about getting out of your comfort zone, I was definitely out on mine. Despite this I really enjoyed the experience and am glad I got the opportunity to try out this new skill.

Public Access to Law » Oscar Punch On Friday the 10th of November, a Public Access To Law course was provided for TY students interested in a career in Law. The one day course took place in the Pavilion and was delivered by a barrister.

We learned about the process of becoming a barrister or solicitor. We learnt about the different types of Law e.g. criminal and civil, the different courts, the Supreme and District. She also told us about some really interesting and complex real life cases.The day ended with a mock trial, each of us playing a role. This gave everyone a great taste of what it was like to argue a case. Overall, I think that the experience was enjoyable and gave us a good insight into our justice system and the work of a barrister.

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W O RK E XP E R IE NCE . . .

Work Experience » Tadhg O Connell

Garda Siochana » Craig Kenny

Work experience is a really beneficial programme which allows students to gain a understanding about the workplace and to find out what they might like to study. I liked doing work experience because I got to see what happens in a work environment and what tasks people in certain roles. I got see that there’s more to do in a job than what you think. It was interesting to see different work spaces and how they operate.

​ s I do not know yet what career I want to peruse, I planned A to use Transition Year to begin my research. One of my work experience placements was with An Garda Siochana in Bray Garda Station. Unfortunately, I did this work experience the week of Storm Ophelia so we missed the first two days of the program. There were 16 other Transition year students with me and I got to know them well over the few days.

For my first work experience, I went to Dáil Éireann with TD Andrew Doyle. I wanted to do this as I could get an insight in how our country is run and how politics is useful for everyone.

I went in the week after the budget which meant the Dáil was very busy as TD’s were preparing for the new budget.

On the first day, Wednesday we went to the Garda museum in Dublin castle. It had just been refurbished and it was very up to date.The museum was very interesting. We went across to the Garda memorial gardens we saw the list of names and the registration no of the gardai that have been killed in the line of duty. We then went to the Criminal Justice Court, which has been refurbished in the last five years. It had many floors and 26 different courts. We sat in on a murder trial and a assault case. It was very interesting to see how the court was run.

I also spent a week in the Four Courts. It was really interesting because the Barrister took me to all the different courts: the Supreme Court, High Court, District Court and the Criminal Court of justice. I went to Dublin castle and Kings Inn where lawyers study to become barristers. It was very interesting seeing the courts in action and how Law works.

I also did a week with an Architect in Wicklow. I looked at projects that had been done in his office and then he asked me to build a model building for one of his projects. I also went on a site visit so I got to see one of his projects in action.

My favourite work experience was in Savills real estate, I worked in Property Management (pm). They looked after big commercial units like Liffey Valley Shopping Centre. They made sure the building and tenants were happy and in good condition. I went on multiple site visits which was really fun and interesting to see the different sites. I spent a day in the Residental sector also. It was really fun and the most interesting work experience I did.

Doing work experience was really exciting and broadened my view on what the world of work is like. I really liked the different jobs and how they vary. I really enjoyed the work experience I did.

The second day we went to Templemore, in Tipperary to see the garda training college.It was a very long journey down to Tipperary for the short amount of time we spent there. The campus was a lot bigger than I expected. We got a short basic tour of the campus but we did get to sit in on a self defence class and that was very interesting.

The third day was the most interesting of the three days.

We again went to the midlands but this time we went to Portlaoise Prison. This time we were able to get a full tour by a senior officer of the largest prison in Ireland. We learnt how prisoners were checked in and we saw the holding cells and then the actual cell that a prison would stay in. The prison officer gave us a very detailed tour of the prison and it was very interesting. I really did enjoy participating in this work experience program. The program has given me an insight into what being a garda involves, this may be a career I will consider when I am older.

Work Experience in the USA » Benjamin More O’Ferrall I spent two weeks in Wilton, Connecticut staying with my aunt and her family. My aunt is an architect and architecture is a career path that I am seriously considering, so it made lots of sense to spend a week with her in her office. The first two days I was working on CAD just getting used to the software and I was given dimensions of a garage that is being turned into a man cave/office that is part of a project that the firm was working on.

It was frustrating at first before I got my head around the basics of the programme but once I did it was actually enjoyable. Doing DCG definitely helped me out. The hardest thing about it was adjusting from the metric system to inches and feet. That threw me a bit. But I figured it out eventually. I’m really glad I did a week with an architect because I can see myself pursuing it as a career and really enjoying it.

The next week I went into work with my uncle in a yacht club where he’s the executive chief. I spent the time in the kitchen

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preparing food and helping plate food when a wedding, party or banquet was on which was three nights out of five. That was the most enjoyable part in my opinion. The kitchen went really quiet and serious and everything had to be placed down perfectly.

Every plate had to match the next one. It all had to be done at a fast pace. We got 100 plates from nothing to an amazing looking meal in front of customers in five minutes. I also for the most part prepared food for the next for days ahead. Every meal is planned out way ahead of time so if anything wrong is going to happen there is three or four emergency plans. A working kitchen is a crazy place, it’s fun and exciting but high stress environment with lots of loud noises and lots of heat and danger all around. I really enjoyed it but I can never see myself working in a kitchen for very long, apart from the fact that three different people in the kitchen told me to stay well away, long hours and lots of shouting. I’m very glad I did this week though, it’s good to have on my CV for a summer job.

St . Ge rard ’s S en i or S c h oo l

Trinity College : Science Week » Michael Flynn On the 6th of March to the 9th March, I partook in a week long course in Trinity College’s Science Gallery. The TY week would focus on teaching us, a group of 17, the combination of Design, Art, and Science. For the first day we did team building exercises so that we could all get introduced to each-other.

Afterwards we were given a tour of the Science Gallery’s newest exhibit titled FAKE, an exhibit based around an ever growing world of fakes and how our perception of what is real and what is fake is becoming clouded and harder to seperate from one another.

Over the next few days, multiple speakers and Trinity College students spoke to us about various topics from solar flares, to concept and design, and to Low Frequency Satellites. For our week, we spent a good portion of time working on new concepts

for a museum being built in Birr Castle, Co. Offaly. This is the site of the famous Kraken Telescope, which was once the largest telescope in all of europe. Now they are building a new Low Frequency Radio Satellite station there that interconnects with satellites all over europe to create a connected satellite with a dish size equivalent to the size of europe. It is called I-LoFar. At the site, they are constructing a museum to honour Birr Castle’s past and to teach people about the new I-LoFar system. We were tasked with helping to design the museum and the attractions inside of it. In the end my design was more expensive than feasibly possible.

Overall I really enjoyed the week and all that I learned from it, and I made connections with other friendly like minded people who I hope to keep in touch with as much as possible.

TY Program Royal College of Surgeons » Michael Flynn During TY we are encouraged to apply for TY programmes in universities. I was lucky enough to be selected to take part in the week long TY Program in the Royal College of Surgeons new building on York St.On arrival I was given my name tag and brought into the Desmond Auditorium along with another 200 TY Students. The auditorium was huge, it could seat hundreds of people and it had to massive TV Screens that would dwarf an average wall that you would find in any house.

Our first day was mostly introductory, but after we were introduced to the college, we had a presentation and Q&A with a General Practitioner followed by another presentation and Q&A with senior RCSI Students to speak with us about the life of a surgeon.

At the end of the first day we had a surgeon named James Paul O’Neill come into us to talk about his chosen field and we also watched him complete a tonsillectomy where by he removed a cancer from someone’s tonsils. Whilst it was slightly disgusting, it was really fascinating to see how the operation was completed.

On the second day, we began by having person who had a double lung transplant come in to talk to us about her condition and how her lung usage was down to 30% and how the transplant saved her life. After that we had a heart surgeon come in to talk to us about the very specialised field that he worked in. He spoke of how he was able to remove a heart and lungs by bypassing the organs using machines. Unbelievably fascinating. Next up, we had a patient and a doctor come in to talk to us about how the doctor removed a benign tumor from the patients esophagus through key-hole surgery. Truly Fascinating.

After a small break we came back to watch a Cesarean Section live from the Rotunda Maternity Hospital. After the surgery we had a Q&A with Dr. Malone over a live stream. After Lunch we were split into groups and my group was taught how to apply a cast to a broken wrist. Although I had to walk around for an hour with a cast, it was still pretty good.

After the whole cast situation, we were given these VR headsets called Google Cardboard. We had to slide in our phones and using the cardboard, we could easily watch operations in a 360 degree format.​ When I left the college I would not get to go back because the “ Beast from the East” would shut it down for the rest of the week. Hopefully it will be rescheduled but until then. This is it, it was an amazing 2 days that gave me a great insight into life as a surgeon, and it was an experience that I will never forget.

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Ov ers e as trav e l

MY TY Challenge ‘Kilimanjaro » Ben McCauley On the 21st of October my Dad and I left Ireland on a flight to Kilimanjaro International Airport in Tanzania in Africa, we had set ourselves the challenge of climbing to the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro - the tallest mountain in Africa. The tremendous heat hit me like a wave the second I stepped off the plane.

We took a short bus journey to a lodge where we would be staying the night. The poverty immediately struck me but I also noticed that everyone we met was extremely welcoming and friendly and I felt at ease. I was enjoying myself and this new experience before we had even started the climb.

On our first morning,we woke up early and took a long bus journey to the foothills of the mountain but sadly it was cloudy and we couldn’t see much the summit. We met our guide for the climb who talked us through our route. He explained the importance of “Polepole,” which is Swahili for “slowly”.

This is a very important rule for people climbing Kilimanjaro because the high altitude can cause side effects if you go up the mountain too fast. We would be acclimatizing slowly as we hiked.

Our first day was the easiest of all the days. We spent about three hours walking through rain forest to get to the base camp. It rained a lot and the terrain was mostly uphill.

At the camp we ate and rested because we knew the next day wouldn’t be as easy. I slept well despite the rain and the loudly chattering monkeys who were causing a commotion outside our tent all night.

The second day was when our challenge really began. We set off at 6:30am. It was still cloudy so the summit of the mountain was obscured. We walked for about 5 hours taking a few water and food breaks. That evening there was a thick fog surrounding the camp which set an eerie mood, we were tired, we rested and settled down for the night. The next morning we woke up just as first light reached the mountain.

Finally, a clear sky and we had a breathtaking view of the sunrise from outside our tent. This was the first time I had seen the summit of Kilimanjaro and it certainly was a view to behold. We had another long and difficult trek. We took it

Language Course in Salamanca

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slowly and felt relieved by the end of our arduous day. The next morning we woke up above the cloud line. Despite my altitude headache, I really did feel like I was on cloud nine!

On the seventh day we woke up knowing that this climb was going to be our toughest yet. We set off early and walked for about three hours. At midday, we arrived at our final camp before the summit. This was at an altitude of 4600 metres.

We had some time to rest up before the final stretch. The plan was to leave at midnight and walk all through the night. Our goal was to reach the summit for sunrise. I was so excited I couldn’t sleep. The climb was an ascent of over 1000 metres in the freezing temperatures. The ground was frozen solid and everyone was being careful not to slip or fall on the ice.

At certain points we were walking along a steep ledge where if someone fell it would have been catastrophic. All this along with my lack of sleep and the high altitude meant it was an exhausting 6 hours. Seeing the first signs of sunlight over the summit was a huge confidence and moral boost as I knew this meant we were close. Over the next hour the light became brighter and just as we reached the peak the sun broke the horizon. It illuminated the view over the mountain and created a breathtaking experience. Our decent was was much easier and quicker, I really enjoyed taking on this challenge with my Dad. Although it was challenging at times, I’ll never forget the experience.

Sarah Murphy

Going to Salamanca in Spain on a 2 week language course was one of the best decisions I have made in TY. SallyAnn Noonan and I may have been nervous before we left but we were crying when we were leaving to come home. Everyday we attended an intensive Spanish course called, ‘Colegio Delibes’. Here we were in level A2.1 which ended up being very difficult. We were in a class with lots of students from all over the globe, our classmates included Australian, Chinese, Dutch and Irish. The classes focused on both Grammar and Communication skills. I preferred the communication classes because it gave us free reign to chat about whatever topic was at hand that day. Our teachers names were Elena and Marina. Elena was pregnant at the time we were there and on our last day she found out she would be having a baby girl and it felt special to be able to share that moment with her.

The classes were intense, with an oral and written exam in our final week. This showed us the level of Spanish we currently have and our capability of learning new material in a foreign language. We made friends for life with 4 girls from Salthill, Galway and a girl from Holy Child, Killiney. I will be forever grateful for their kindness and friendship. If I could stay an extra year, I would have, let alone an extra week. But, however, all good things must come to an end, my spanish has certainly improved and I will certainly be returning next year!

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St . Ge rard ’s S en i or S c h oo l

Expedition to the Antarctic Circle

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Jonathon Murphy

On the 26th of January, my Mum and I headed off on a once in a lifetime adventure. First stop, Madrid then on a transfer to Buenos Aires. That flight was long especially as there was a pair of very upset travel sick babies’ sitting two rows behind! Buenos Aires was a pretty city with so much do and not much time to do it. However, we did manage to take a boat trip to a beautiful town in Uruguay. Our next flight took three hours and we shortly arrived in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. This is where our journey really began!

At 4pm on Wednesday the 31st of January we were shown to our cabins by the Aurora team on board the Polar Pioneer our home for the next 10 days. We were welcomed by our Expedition Leader Christian at the Bar on deck 4 where he told us what the plan was for the next days. After that we enjoyed of first meal of the trip, it didn’t stay down for long, for most of us! And that’s when it hit us, here we were, in the middle of nowhere,on our own in one of the roughest seas in the world, the dreaded Drake Passage!

On the first morning and every morning to follow we were woken by Christian’s Terminator dulcet tones at 7am, “Good Morning, Good Morning.” The day was jam-packed with information and lectures. It took us two days to cross the Drake Passage. It wasn’t too bad.....

During the early hours of February the 2nd temperatures dropped and we crossed the boundary between sub-Antarctic surface and the cold-Antarctic surface. Many more faces could be seen at breakfast and what’s more, most were smiling and able to stomach some delicious bacon and potatoes. Fog surrounded the ship for most of the morning, casting an eerie yet calm ambiance on the steely sea we sailed through. The day concluded with a few lectures from Roger (botanist) and Christian (expedition leader).

On peeping out our portholes early the next morning, we caught our first glimpse of the Antarctic Peninsula. Mountains and glaciers rose up from the horizon. After a shaky two days at sea l was more than happy to see land. Once we had scrubbed and disinfected our boots we boarded the Zodiacs. Our balance was put to the test by the choppy swell, however everyone made it onto the little rubber dinghy’s unscathed and relatively dry. First stop was to Cuverville lsland where we were bombarded with the stench of guano (poo), thanks to our penguin friends!!! ​Our Sunday morning was filled with excitement. We were preparing ourselves to cross the Antarctic Circle at 66.33.7’ degrees South. The countdown began at 13:41, 10-9.8 1.0... Hooray! The ships horn blared as everyone but me toasted with a glass of Champagne! We were the only ship south of the Antarctic Circle. It was a truly magnificent and peaceful place. So quiet. Later on, after lunch the truly brave were called upon. It was time to do the Plunge. 18 of us decided to jump into the Polar (an Aussie), aged 75. near freezing 0 degree water. I was the youngest and the eldest was Helen 75. What a thrill! I felt as though l was paralysed with the cold water and had to push myself to swim towards the boat. It was amazing, overnight the wind at our mooring spot in the middle of an ice sheet, had picked up to 45 knots and it wasn’t safe to stay, so we had to move out quickly and find a safer place to overnight. Numerous icebergs were moving rapidly across the crystal sound! When we awoke from our slumber the next morning, we were greeted by Mt. Sharp, a huge glacier just under half the size of Everest, standing at 3198 meters high. We poured into the zodiacs for an astounding 2.5 hour glide around the icebergs and small islands On Tuesday the 6th we landed at the famous Petermann island. The island was named after geographer August Petermann who led and expedition with Germany in 1873,where we saw our very first chinstrap penguin colony. The menu for dinner that night was “Fur Seal and ‘Gentoo penguin’ out on the “barby.” We also saw two humpback whales and orcas as they spouted water into the air.

The Aussies know how to have a good time and are very like us lrish, our last day on the peninsula began in Paradise harbour. We then moved on to Port Lockroy where Sophie, an Antarctic scientist living there for 4 months came on board and talked about life on the island. We eagerly set off to the gift shop and museum where we posted postcards from Antarctica and it seemed like Mum bought everything in sightl Where was she going to find room in the luggage for all this shopping! The voyage was nearing an end as we approached Deception island, a dormant volcano that has been flooded with water. There were many wrecks on the island including an old hanger for small planes and a small runway that has now been covered in sand. The seals love this place as its black sand is lovely and warm The following morning we left the Polar Pioneer to begin our journey home. We went ashore at King George Island where we said a brief hello to the next passengers joining the ship as they arrived on the plane we were leaving on.We were sad to be ending our expedition and they were ecstatic to be beginning theirs.

We flew to Punta Arenas from King George Island with Antarctica Airways (no way were we doing the Drake Passage again!). At the hotel the next day we all said our goodbyes and farewells, where some tears were shed. As a group we split up then, having exchanged email addresses. A lot of people were heading to Patagonia but our final destination lead us to the beautiful city of Santiago the capital of Chile, where we stayed for 2 nights. Then our homeward journey began, via Gatwick this time. It was strange, but we left Dublin on at 3pm and our flight home arrived in Dublin at 3pm on 12/03/18. It was the most amazing adventure and one that I will never forget, not many people get to cross the Antarctic Circle.

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S oci al Awar e n e ss i n T Y

Young Social Innovators

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Jennifer Corson

This year our YSI group in school decided to tackle the problem of homelessness in our society as it’s one of the big social issues of our time. As a group, we hoped to help out within our community and make a positive impact on the lives of homeless people in our area. Here’s an account of the work we did this year in order to achieve this.

To help raise awareness and give us some insight into the problems associated with homelessness, we invited a speaker from The Peter McVerry Trust to come in and talk to us. Frances Doherty, who works with the charity, kindly accepted our invitation and came it to talk to us about homelessness and the impact it has on people and on our society.He began by telling us a little bit about what the charity do for the homeless and how they go about tackling the issue. He shocked us with some of the facts and statistics on the homeless crisis in Ireland. This talk was very informative and Frances even gave us some suggestions on what practical things we, as a group, could do to tackle the issue of homelessness in our local areas.

In our work to help fight homelessness in our community, we had three people from the Tiglin organisation come in and talk to us. They all shared their stories with us .We were amazed by the amount of practical work they did. One of the speakers, John, who had previously been homeless told us of his struggles and how he ended up on the streets at the age of 19. He told us of his heroin addiction and all the work Tiglin has done to help him.

He is now off heroin and back on his feet.

His story moved us all and we asked if

they would come back in to talk to the other year groups in our school to help raise awareness about homelessness.

As a fundraiser our YSI group held a cake sale at the Christmas Bazaar. The money that we raised went directly to TIGLIN, a charity which we have been working with through out YSI project. We raised a total of €1,200 in the bake sale. We all baked cakes to contribute to the bake sale. It was a great success.

In December the YSI committee came up with the concept of ‘Dignity bags’ for the homeless. We asked each year group to bring in certain sanitary and food items as well as warm clothes.

On Tuesday the 19th of December we filled over 176 bags with non perishable goods, sanitary goods as well as wipes, hats and scarfs. We contacted Tiglin, an addiction organization based in Dublin who agreed to distribute our bags on their NoBucks bus. Tiglin traveled to the school on the NoBucks Bus and collected the Dignity Bags to give out to the homeless of Dublin.We hope that these dignity bags were effective and will increase the sanitation, hygiene,general wellbeing and dignity of the many homeless people in Ireland today.

On Thursday the 21st of December, the YSI group went into St.Stephens Green Shopping Centre to raise funds and spirits by carol singing for The Peter Mc Very Trust. Unfortunately all of our choir members had to practice for the carol service and couldn’t come with us! We weren’t the best group of singers but we

managed to raise over €1,000. It was a really fun experience and the Peter McVerry foundation really appreciated what we were doing.

On Tuesday the 20th of March the YSI committee traveled to Dun Laoghaire to participate in the YSI speak out. There were YSI committees from different schools throughout the country at the event. Each school committee had to prepare a play or presentation, which they performed in front of a panel of judges as well as the other schools. In the weeks leading up to the YSI speak out, we met to prepare our performance. Our play highlighted the stereotyping of homeless people in Ireland today. Lily-Kate and Ben talked about our project and everything we have done throughout TY in YSI. Our play was a huge success. It was a great day and it was really interesting to watch the other schools perform and learn what their projects were all about.

YSI has taught us all that there is no greater achievement than giving back to our community. It has taught us to use our own initiative in order to make a difference. We as a group, worked as a unit to achieve our goals. We are all extremely happy with the work we have done this year and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Many thanks go to our teachers Ms Ni Fhinneadadh and Ms Buckley for all their help and support.

Christmas Bazaar

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St . Ge rard ’s S en i or S c h oo l

S ocial Awareness in TY

Gaisce » Amy Hoffman This is year the majority of TY’s took part in Gaisce, the President’s Award, to the bronze level. This is a personal development programme for people between the ages of 15-25. To achieve this students must complete 13 weeks of three activities under the following headings: Community Involvement, Personal Skill, Physical Recreation.

We also must choose to commit to one of these activities for double the amount of time - 26 weeks. Along with these tasks we also had to complete an Adventure Journey , this we had all completed with our camping trip and hike at the beginning of the year. I thoroughly enjoyed Gaisce as it kept me really busy and helped me to do things I’d never normally do which felt extremely rewarding.

For my Community Involvement I joined the Special Olympics and their Blue Dolphins swim team. Every Sunday I went

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Abbie Mc Carthy

From the 6th to the 10th of November our school celebrated Wellbeing Week. The school ran a series of events to promote wellbeing. Our TY YSI Group came up with the idea that a theme for well being week should be ‘food for thought’, as we felt it was important that our school community were healthy both mentally and physically. Mr. Geraghty also came up with the wonderful idea of assigning each year group a colored ribbon to wear on their uniform for the week, each colour had a different significance.

1st years 2nd years 3rd years 4th years 5th years 6th years

Yellow Blue Green Purple Orange Light grey

Optimism Trust Prosper Creative Imagination Balance

All 4th, 5th and 6th years were excited to be invited to a talk by the Minister of Health, Simon Harris. Minister Harris spoke to us about the importance of healthy eating. We also learned about the new food pyramid, which was really interesting because I hadn’t heard about it before. Even though Simon Harris’ talk was only 30 minutes long I still learnt a lot from it and really enjoyed it.

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down to the pool to have a one-to-one swim session with one of the athletes who I’m very proud has come a long way this season. Our job as coaches is to prepare the athletes to go to competitions that we compete in. I really love working with the Blue Dolphins as it’s so rewarding and the athletes happiness is something really nice to be around.

I will definitely be keeping this up after I complete the Gaisce Award.

For my personal skill I completed the Steer Clear course here in the school every Tuesday for 13 weeks. Here I learned about the theory of driving as well as some practical sides. I really feel like I benefited from this is it prepared me for the Theory Test that I’ll be taking soon.

For physical recreation I joined my local gym and went down for hourly long sessions a couple times a week. I’ve always wanted to do this but Gaisce helped give me the push to do it and forced me to keep it up and not quit.

I really enjoyed Gaisce as it pushed me way out of my comfort zone and really made me do things that I was really pleased with and proud of.

Later on that day we were invited to our second talk of the day by the former Irish model Alison Canavan. Alison started modeling at a very young age, which she says, exposed her to drink and drugs, she admitted that she felt like a better version of herself when she was partying and began to believe that she could only be happy when she was ‘falsely high’. She explained that she didn’t know it wasn’t normal to find it a struggle to get out of bed in the morning and didn’t talk to anyone about the fact that she was constantly feeling down. We proceeded to learn more about her addictions, her son and how she went from having being extremely rich and ‘outwardly happy’ to having nothing and knowing she was depressed. Although she seemed to have everything she felt empty,it took her a long time to properly look after and take responsibility for her own mental health.

She taught us some practical breathing exercises and she spoke about a wide range of things from, drugs, to anxiety, to having a victim’s mentality. Alison spoke a lot about being positive and always trying to have a positive attitude. We all felt elevated and excited at the end of her speech, Alison was so passionate about what she was saying. Alison’s talk was my favorite part of well being week and I’m so glad we had the privilege of listening to her.

Our third talk of the week was about nutrition, presented by nutritionist. The speaker told us about the digestive system and what we should be eating, she said she doesn’t believe in the saying you are what you eat, she believes you are what you digest. This talk was really interesting.

Our final talk of the week was from Aware. The speaker, Steve talked to us about the stages of depression, how to recognise it and how prevent it from happening. Steve’s talk gave us lots of practical advice and tips.I really enjoyed well being week , now more than ever it is so important that young people start to take responsibility and control over their own mental health.

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S oci al Awar e n e ss i n T Y

St. Vincent De Paul Hamper Packing » Sarah

Murphy

The St Vincent de Paul Hamper Packing is an eagerly awaited Christmas event where the fifth years and TY students join together to pack hampers for St.Vincent de Paul. Myself and a few other YSI students were asked to go down to the sports hall prior to the other students arrival so as we could see first hand how the event is run ensuring we are ready to lead a group next year. We helped the fifth years unpack some of the items while we were there and once the rest of our own year came down, it was time to really get to work. We were split into teams around the hall. Alongside us was our team leader who would send us to go get a certain amount of a particular item. Once the items was retrieved it had to be put into the box a specific way so as the boxes could fold over properly. Jessica McHenry was our team leader and she was so lovely. The team packed 280 hampers which were then piled into cars for the fifth year students to deliver. The night before, myself, Claire Fisher and Adele O’Reilly, went to the junior school after hours and helped Stephanie organise the toys for the families who had children. There were kids of all ages within these families and it felt good to give a bit more help towards the cause. The bond between the SVP community and St. Gerard’s School will surely stay strong and it’s only a matter of time until I will be delivering the hampers myself.

Community Service » Amy MacNulty As part of the TY Programme in St. Gerard’s School, each student is required to complete one week of community service.

The aim of the week is to get the students involved in their community and to give us an opportunity to help others. We each had to apply to somewhere and organise the week by ourselves. I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to do a week of work experience with Peter McVerry Trust. I wasn’t sure what to expect out of the week but I was looking forward to learning more about the homelessness problem in Ireland.

of humour. Most of them really wanted to talk to us and tell us their stories. It really opened my eyes to hear their life stories.

This community service week was amazing. It made me appreciate everything that I have. I realised that people who are homeless are just like everyone else and that we should never make judgements on anybody else. It has also made me want to help the homelessness problem more as I have talked to some people firsthand. The week of community service really impacted me in a positive way.

The group of students were taken down to a daytime hostel in Dublin where homeless people can come and change their clothes, shower, eat or just talk to others during the day. We were introduced to many people that were homeless and talked to a lot of them about their lives and how they became homeless. All of their stories were incredibly sad. Many of their family members had died from suicide, many had suffered from abuse as a child, some had parents who were addicts, some were kicked out of their own homes, and some were even in abusive relationships now. Most of them were addicts, some recovering, some not, and talked to us about how drugs have ruined their lives. Some dealt drugs and were sent to prison, others robbed money in order to fund their addiction, which also led to serving time in prison. All of these people had such awful lives but the majority were really positive and had a great sense

My personal experience of the week of community service was really beneficial. Many students also volunteered at charity shops in their local area for the week where they helped to run the shop. Others went to Bray Lakers and took part in activities such as bowling or football with people with disabilities. Some volunteered in animal shelters such as the DSPCA and helped out with the animals there.

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I think the week of community service is a really good part of Transition Year as it allows the students to give back to the community. It is really rewarding to feel like you have made even a small difference in someone else’s life. It also made us realise how lucky we are and how much we have to be grateful for. I think most students really enjoyed their experience and have benefited greatly from it.

St . Ge rard ’s S en i or S c h oo l

S ocial Awareness in TY

Operation Smile Bake Sale » Ben Hogan During the summer before I began TY, I traveled to Rome for an International Student leadership conference (ISLC) held each year. I was blown away. I listened to Operation Smile volunteers, donors and even people Op Smile had treated. I, along with 600 students from around the world, was completely fascinated.

Right then I made a promise to myself that I would do what I could to help this amazing work. As soon as I returned from the conference I got on the phone to my auntie. She was delighted that I was so inspired and gave me a few ideas on how to fundraise for this cause.

While the idea was still fresh in my head, I emailed the viceprincipal Mr Drummy to tell him about the experience. I told him how I wanted to organise a fundraiser during my fourth year. I kept in regular contact with him over the year, until eventually I organised a meeting with Mr Geraghty to pitch this fundraiser.

I prepared for weeks in advance to fully decide the best way to promote my cause. The meeting went well and I got the go ahead. I immediately started planning for the bake sale itself.

I traveled into the Operation Smile Dublin office and got T-shirts, collection buckets and posters to help promote the bake sale.

Then the week before the bake sale I told my year head, Mrs Ní Mhártín about what I was doing. She was really helpful and reminded me of loads of things I had to check. I met with Brian from the kitchen and he gave me permission to use the dining hall during small break of Friday. On the Wednesday before the bake sale I made a presentation to the TY group. I spoke about what Op Smile is and about my own involvement. I then walked

Riding for the Disabled

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Claire Fisher

This year, Max Merren, Adele O Reilly, Wolfgang Van Teichman and I, Claire Fisher have volunteered with ‘Riding For The Disabled Association Ireland’ most Tuesdays. RDAI is an amazing Association put together by the commitment of over 500 volunteers in Ireland who help to run the groups each week.

As an association, more than 50 voluntary groups nationwide provide weekly lessons to over 700 disabled people. The main focus of the RDAI is to broaden the physical, intellectual and social horizons of people with special needs. There are so many benefits of riding to the disabled such as increasing their Tra n s i tio n Ye a r N e w s 2 0 1 8

around the school with some helpers to recruit volunteers to bake for the bake sale. I put up the posters and mr Drummy made an announcement about it on the loudspeaker. On the Thursday I went around again to remind and encourage the students to support the bake sale.

On the morning of the bake sale I was slightly nervous. However when I arrived into the canteen, I saw tables full of donations.

And they kept coming and coming.... My TY friends came in and helped me set up the room. I got a video ready to play on the TVs and gave my helpers T-shirts. By small break, The place looked really professional and well set out. The actual bake sale flew by. I was working on my own draw table, and I seemed to be making loads of money. When the bake sale finished, I asked a few girls to count the money while I cleaned up. When the finished counting they told me we had raised €2000. I was indescribably happy and proud. It was enough funds for 11 life changing, and possibly life saving surgeries. The rest of the day we continued to try and sell the remaining cakes. The winner of the draw was a sixth classer called Henry. He won a brand new Sony Xperia smartphone, and was delighted. Overall, the bake sale was a huge success. That afternoon I wrote thank you notes to everyone who helped me along the way, and gave Mrs Ní Mhártín flowers. I am so glad it went so well, and I can’t wait to see the difference this makes in the lives of these children around the world. I was overwhelmed by the support I got from my fellow TYers and the students and the parents who baked and helped me to raise these funds.

self confidence, improve posture, coordination and balance.

In RDAI there is a huge group of riders with many different disabilities including; cerbal palsey, dispraxia, autism and MS. Doing RDA has been such an amazing experience and has really opened my eyes to the difficulties people face in this world. Seeing how happy RDAI makes the riders will immediately have the same effect on the volunteers. It’s lovely to be able to make someone so happy and all it takes to do this is give a couple of hours out of my day each week. I know I speak for myself, Max, Adele and Wolfie when I say how glad we are to have done RDA this year.

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Three Peaks Challenge » Dan Redmond

On Friday the 4th of May we had our Three Peaks Challenge. The Three Peaks Challenge is a 17 km walk in aid of our Difference Day project for St Catherine’s School. We all collected sponsorship before the walk to help fund the project for St Catherine’s. After saying goodbye to our French students we got a bus to the bottom of the Sugarloaf. We got lucky with the weather as we had a full day of sun. We began by walking up and over the Sugarloaf into Kilmacanogue where we got some food before continuing up to the little Sugarloaf. We took a break at the top for lunch. After our lunch, we continued on to Bray Head to finish the walk. At the top of Bray Head, we had a view of the big and little sugar loaves where we started. Our walk finished at Bray seafront just below our last peak.

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St . Ge rard ’s S en i o r S c h o ol

S ocial Awareness in TY

Difference Days in aid of St Catherine’s Special School »

Jack Tuthill and Tadhg O’Connell

This year the TY group partnered up with St. Catherine’s Special School in Newcastle, Co Wicklow to help make a lasting difference for the students and teachers that attend the school. This year we set ourselves the challenge of building a playground along and designing and enhancing some outdoor play areas for the kids from the school to enjoy.

78 TY students arrived to St Catherine’s Special School dressed in work gear and ready for action. We knew we had a hard days work in front of us. We were welcomed warmly by the students from the school singing and signing a lovely version of “Thank you for being a Friend’. It was really touching to see how excited they were and how much they all appreciated what we were doing.

We split into five groups to do five different tasks. These included a walk way, a pioneer trail, a matting installment, an outdoor classroom, and a vegetable area. We took turns on the ‘whacker’ and dug, raked, carried, built, painted, cut, carried and cleaned all day.

Some students from the school came and worked with us for parts of the day, they were excited to see the equipment, it was great for us to see how much enjoyment they will get from what we have done. Our challenge was to complete all the work and leave the playground ready for use by the end of the day. While it was a slow and difficult process, the end result was definitely worth it, we were so proud of what we have achieved and knowing that we have greatly enhanced the play facilities in St. Catherine’s was something we will all be proud of for a long time.

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