BT Young Scientist

On Thursday the 8th of January all Transition Years and all 2nd years in our school traveled to the RDS to view the Young Scientist exhibition. There were 550 projects from around the country that qualified to be a part of the exhibition, including one by students in our year. It was a project based on the ideal conditions for learning. 

We spent most of the day looking at the projects and talking to the guy who did a project with a guitar that could potentially help people who have had strokes get movement back into their fingers.

Work Experience

Yesterday the 3rd of December was last day of our first term of work experience. I spent my first block week of work experience at FM104 and then moved onto Waltons music shop in Blanchardstown. I worked here almost every Wednesday for the last 8 weeks. It was a lot of fun, i was with two other guys from schools in Dublin for the majority of my time there, if there was ever nothing for us to do we were always busy, I ended up attempting to teach one of them guitar which did not end well.

Most of our time there was spent in the delivery room breaking down boxes that once held all of the products we had bar coded and put onto the shop floor. Its fair to say that all three of us are sick of even the sight of boxes.

Playing and testing out the instruments (mostly guitars and keyboards) was another thing I loved to do there. 

Over all it was a great experience and i would go back again if i could.

Fashion Show

This week was a busy week for everyone in the school, St. Wolstan's held their own fashion show in the Celbridge Manor Hotel. It was on for two nights, Tuesday the 25th of November and Wednesday the 26th of November. 

Models were selected from each year to model clothes from different shops in the area such as Oasis in Liffey Valley and Catch in Manor Mills, Maynooth. 

There were  entertainment acts such as Ballet, Irish dancing and many musical acts.

Mini-Companies in our year were also given the opportunity to sell our product outside the entrance to the fashion show.

"Art" Trip

On Tuesday our year went to Carton House in Maynooth to visit the "Vanishing Art" exhibition held there. There were two parts to the exhibition, the one indoors which included smaller pieces of art and the outdoors one which included larger pieces of art that would not fit indoors.

We saw many sculptures such as a pink T - Rex, dresses made completely from bronze and an owl made from paper.

Everyone's favourite part of the trip wasn't the art but was the Irish rugby team who happened to be training in Carton House while we were there. Unfortunately I didn't get to meet any of the team but a few people in our year did and I am extremely jealous.

Hey Laura i finally updated my blog so you have something to read in I.T.  you're welcome, btw act my age is on rn and I'm Irish dancing in my head okay bye #liara #ashaura

Walk in My Shoes

Last Friday our school had a no uniform and 'funky shoes' day in aid of the charity "Walk in My Shoes". Walk in My Shoes is a fundraising charity set up by St Patrick's Mental Health Services to help raise awareness and support for people with any form of mental health issues as it is a big issue in Ireland. Here are some statistics...

1 in 4 young people in Ireland will experience a mental health difficulty.

Ireland has one of the highest suicide rates in the 14-24 age group in the EU.

Suicide is the leading cause of death among 18-24 year old men in Ireland.

Mental health isn't talked about as much as it should. Doing charity events like this can help people to become more aware of these issues and help combat them.

Everyone came into school in our casual clothes and a few people wore unusual shoes to wear to school like high heels and slippers. If you did not wear your uniform you gave in €2 to help support this charity. 

I'm happy our school decided to hold this event in awareness of mental health because it is definitely overlooked in our country

Work Experience

I wasn't in school for the week 29th September to 3rd of October. I missed many things such as the fun walk and the beep test (thankfully). I was on work experience in FM104, I applied for a placement their early last year so I was lucky enough to get a place.

I was with two other TY's from other schools in Dublin. On our first day, we were given a lot of sheets asking us questions about our favourite music and our ideal radio station which I presumed to be free market research for them. We were also brought into the music studio where they bring bands and artists when they visit the station. We got to see how they play songs on air and how they edit conversations they have with callers.

We got to take a lot of old CDs that were going to be thrown out. I took complete advantage of the free CDs and ended up with about 20, I managed to find some of my favourite bands like Green Day, Good Charlotte and Foo Fighters.

On our last day we were brought out in the cars to deliver prizes to different competition winners around Dublin. We were given a FM104 bag full of Haribo and FM104 pens, pencils, paper and keyrings. 

FM104 "Beetle Bugs"

It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I was given this opportunity