IMTA 1st Year Maths Quiz
Congratulations to all 1st years who took part in the 1st round of the IMTA Mathematics quiz. Ailbhe Haran achieved the highest score in St. Aloysius’ room and Jack Lynch in St. Margaret’s room. Jack will represent the school in the next round on Friday, the 27th of April in St. Flannan’s College, Ennis. We wish him the best of luck.
The Clare Champion Short Story Competition
Congratulations to Conor Clancy, Shauna O’Kane and Nathan Brody who have been shortlisted for the Clare Champion Short Story competition. Results will be announced on the 26th of April in the De Valera Library, Ennis at 7:30pm. We wish them every success.
Seanad Youth Debate
Well done to Katelin Vaughan for her excellent performance in the Seanad Youth Debate on Tuesday, April 17th. The event was to commemorate the granting of the female vote in 1918. Katelin was one of 16 students chosen from 350 nationwide to participate in three debating workshops which culminated in a live debate in the Seanad. The topic debated was “have women achieved full equality in our political, cultural and social institutions”.
Katelin agreed that whilst some progress had been made much work had yet to be done. She focused her attention on the cultural aspect of the debate proving that women had certainly not attained full equality in this area. She emphasised that there needed to be a stronger appetite for female equality and that women themselves needed to unite and make this a priority.
Being Your Best
On Friday, April 20th, students from the secondary schools in Lisdoonvarna and Ennistymon came together for a special programme in the Falls Hotel, Ennistymon. The programme was organised by the North West Clare Family Resource Centre.
The programme, ‘Being Your Best’, is a half day programme for 2nd year secondary students of the North West Clare Area that will provide motivation, inspiration and information. The programme included a number of inspirational speakers including John Burke, founder of Elevate; a Clare based organisation bringing wellbeing programmes to young people.
The students also had an opportunity to participate in two 30 minute taster activities during the event. The activities on offer were: yoga, film making, animation, archery, team building, art/craft, circuit fitness training and singing/movement.
The introduction of these techniques will demonstrate to young people how to source other forms of relaxations other than drugs and alcohol.
Young Environmentalists
Mary Immaculate Secondary School have entered two projects in this year’s ECO-UNESCO Young Environmentalists competition. The projects have been entered by second year and TY students.
The second year group has designed a number of games to help in the education of young people with regard to environmental issues. The TY project is looking at community sustainability.
The two teams from the school were selected to pitch their projects at the Eco-Den in NUI Galway on 11th April 2018. Both teams were impressive in their presentations and are eagerly awaiting news of whether they have been chosen to take part in the ECO-UNESCO Young Environmentalist Awards showcase which will be held in the Mansion House in Dublin on 22nd May.
Garda Information Meeting
On Tuesday the 17th of April 2018, the Transition Year students attended a Garda Information meeting at St. Joseph’s Secondary School, Spanish Point, Co. Clare. Ms. Leonard and Ms. Gallery accompanied the Transition Year students on the trip. This session was very informative and the students engaged well in the discussions that took place on the day. Detective Sergeant Mary McCormack (Online Exploitation Unit) gave an outstanding talk on the problematic areas that she has to encounter on a daily basis within her line of work. There were other keynote speakers such as the Juvenile Liaison Officers, Traffic Corps, Drugs Unit, and Community Policing Garda. The Gardaí highlighted the importance of the use of social media, bullying and road traffic accidents. Robert O’Connell, a TY student, gave a PowerPoint presentation highlighting the importance and the role of The Gardaí within our society. In addition, students were able to liaise with trainee Garda’s from The Garda Síochána College, Templemore, Co. Tipperary. This provided students with a deeper insight into the training procedures. Overall, the day was very informative and the students found it very enjoyable.
German Scholarship
Kate Considine, a Transition Year student in Mary Immaculate Secondary School, Lisdoonvarna, has received a scholarship for a German language course for 3 weeks in Germany this summer.
Kate was invited by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany to an interview/language test at the Goethe Institute in Dublin on the 9th of April. There, she was interviewed, in German, by a panel, which had representatives from the State Examinations Commission, the Goethe-Institut in Ireland and the cultural section of the German Embassy. She was successful in the interview and was offered a PAD scholarship to a German language school for 3 weeks this June.
A PAD scholarship which is provided by the German Pedagogical Exchange Service is funded by the German Foreign Office. The selection is based on students’ performances in German in their previous Junior Certificate Examination.
She will travel as part of a group of 24 Irish students. She will stay with a host family and attend a local school for 2 weeks in either Bad Iburg in Western Germany or Beeskov in Eastern Germany. The last 5 days of the trip will be spent in Berlin with all 24 students.
Success at SciFest@LIT
Mary Immaculate Secondary School had four projects entered in SciFest@LIT which was held on 26 April 2018. Amy Woods from Ballyvaughan tasted success at the event by winning the Senior Life Sciences category. She was also the recipient of the Abbott Runner-up Best Project Award. The title of her project was “expansion rates of Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica) in North Clare”.
The other entrants were Aoife Dowling with a project entitled “did the opening of an Aldi store in Ennistymon affect the shopping patterns of people in North Clare?”, Kate Considine with a project entitled “how much do dirty car headlights affect driver visibility?” and Katie Thomas with her project entitled “the effect of acidic seawater on Coralline algae and different seashells”.
The students are all TY students. They were mentored in their research by John Sims. Well done to all the students on all their hard work.