Castleisland Community College going for fourth national title - in a row

CASTLEISLAND Community College has reached the national finals of the Eco Unesco Environmental Competition and it hopes to win it for the fourth year in a row!

This is an All-Ireland environmental awards programme that recognises and rewards young people who raise environmental awareness and improve the environment.

The self titled ‘ Global Gang’ - from the college’s fifth year - wanted to show people what we can all do in our everyday lives to combat climate change.

They focused on the importance of recycling, biodiversity and buying Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) products.

They raised awareness of the importance of recycling by making up shoe boxes for the Team Hope Christmas Shoe Box Appeal and they made wooden toys from scraps of wood left over from exam projects.

The Castleisland community donated clothes and toys that were still in good condition but no longer needed. Every door in the school was decorated with Christmas wreaths using recycled items.

Football boots were collected and donated to the Kenyan Education Project. Unwanted bicycles donated from the community were sent to Chernobyl Children’s

Project.

The ‘Gang’ collaborated in projects with Gortbrack Organic Farm and Castleisland Tidy Towns.

This resulted in planting pollinator friendly plants on school grounds and they also made Air Bee and Bees for the river walk located in Castleisland town.

They also worked with Kerry County Council and made a model train for Castleisland town. The train was made using FSC wood and recycled items.

FSC household items were promoted in Garvey’s SuperValu and Castleisland library and, finally, they worked with FSC International.

“Castleisland Community College is the first school in Ireland to receive an FSC promotional licence,” said teacher, Doreen Killington. “As a result of their efforts, all Kerry ETB schools have now switched to FSC paper and the students began the project in Transition Year but continued to work on it this year.

“The national winners will be announced at the end of May and they will be judged on the video they produced outlining their achievements along with their online submissions. Go n-éirí libh! - said Ms Killington.

Photo by: John Reidy Katelyn Brennan, Castleisland trying out one of the donated bicycles while promoting the Castleisland Community College campaign to collect unwanted models for a Chernobyl charity. Included are: Teacher, Doreen Killington with: AnnMarie Callaghan and Gemma Burke, Castleisland; Julianne Murphy, Farranfore; Siobhán O’Donoghue, Cordal and Kyle O’Connor, Ballymacelligott.