Young scientists impress at the RDS
IT was a momentous weekend for Vocational College Bunclody as, for the first time in its history, the school was represented at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in the RDS, Dublin.
One of just two Wexford schools to qualify for the competition the school’s Transition Year students Hannah Kavanagh, Leah Power and Leah Coleman went on to receive a ‘Highly Commended’ award for their project: ‘Keeping the young modern teenage Traveller in school’.
Inspired by the experiences of classmates and students at the school, the three girls examined ways in which members of the Traveller community could be encouraged to remain in fulltime education.
And upon presenting their findings to the judges in Dublin they were delighted to receive the award commending their work.
Principal of Vocational College Bunclody, Jay Murphy said, ‘We are very proud of the girls. They are very diligent, working very hard on their project over the last four months. They have been fantastic ambassadors for Bunclody Vocational College.’
Mag Brennan of the school’s Science Department, believes this will be the first of many successful outings to the capital.
‘We will soon have three state-of-the-art science laboratories as part of the multi-million euro extension announced to facilitate the growing number of students attending our school.
‘We anticipate that this will be the first of many projects to represent our school in the BT Young Scientist,’ she said.
With two projects on display it was also a proud weekend for all associated with Meanscoil Gharman, who were at the Exhibition for the fourth year in succession. The first of these projects examined one of the most pressing issues of our time: Ireland’s obesity epidemic.
With Ireland on course to be Europe’s most obese nation by 2030, Bríd Chaomhánach, James Byrne and Alannah McCann sought to better understand the ways in which parents treat their children and whether this was contributing to the issue.
Entitled ‘A cultural approach in tacking the obesity epidemic in young children by altering our treat system from a young age’ the project featured an interview with Nutrition Consultant Shonagh Harpur, an extensive survey of students, parents and teachers, and an in-depth review of the project’s findings.
Those findings contained information which suggested some parents were ‘in denial’ about how often they allowed their children to have sugary treats and also found that the amount of screen-time Irish children enjoy was a major contributory factor in cases of obesity.
Their teacher Elaine Nic Réamoinn said all three were interested healthcare and that, for at least two of them, a career in the sciences was a possibility; with Bríd interested in genetics, Alannah in psychology and neurobiology, and James considering becoming a teacher.
The second project from Meanscoil Gharman saw Irish dancer Jennifer McGrath Kerins endeavour to right a few wrongs.
Having grown tired of being told dancing wasn’t a sport Jennifer began a project which she titled ‘Investigation into whether an Irish dancer is fitter or as fit as GAA player’.
Enlisting the help of fourtime All-Ireland winner Mags Darcy. Athletic Development Co-ordinator Dara Kissane, Wexford Senior Footballers Martin O’Connor and Nick Doyle, Wexford Minor Hurler Oisin Pepper and Irish Dancer Joanna Wickham, she ran a series of physical tests on her subjects, after which she assessed their results and compared them accordingly.
And, contrary to popular opinion, the difference between each was negligible, with very little separating the athletes and the dancer.
Discussing the efforts of the students and the importance of the sciences to the school, teacher Elaine Nic Réamoinn said, ‘The students were a pleasure to work with. They were enthusiastic and passionate about their projects and they worked very hard in the weeks prior to the exhibition.
‘I am so proud of them. They have developed a multitude of transferable skills and not just in the field of science but skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, innovation, and entrepreneurship that will take them anywhere in life.’
Proving that the county’s younger generation are just as scientifically aware as their elders were the Sixth Class pupils from St Colman’s National School in Ballindaggin who qualified for the Primary Science Fair.
Their project was called ‘Feed the Birds’ and involved the children studying how many birds were coming to the school grounds.
Having monitored activity in the school’s green area and found that very few birds were visiting, they installed bird feeders in the gardens and awaited the results.
The following month there was a significant increase in the number of feathered guests and the pupils illustrated this for the judges in Dublin. They designed posters and drew up graphs, showing which birds were the most frequent visitors, which type of seed was the most popular and their conclusions.
Teacher Aisling Whitty said the presentation was met with ‘overwhelmingly positive feedback’ from the judges.