Sci-Fest Competition

On Tuesday the annual Sci-Fest competition was held in Tallagh IT. All of the TYs had prepared projects to enter in the competition and I, allong with Saidhbh and Oriana, entered our project on light pollution. The title of our project was "Our Vanishing Night Sky: A Study of Light Pollution.

Light pollution is not often considered a serious issue by the Irish population, but it is in fact a major problem for society today. Due to the sky glow caused by excess artificial light used at night, we are now no longer able to see the milky way in many parts of the country. Light pollution also disrupts nocturnal animals' sleeping patterns and has been linked to breast cancer in female night-shift workers. For these reasons, we considered this a very valid issue to research. We wanted to look at the severity of light pollution in our local area and to also raise awareness about the issue. In order to do this, we decided to conduct a visual survey of the night sky through photography. We went out on two different nights and took photographs at seven locations, ranging from Dublin city centre to the Kildare countryside. We then processed the pictures on a computer programme called ImageJ. This programme created histograms of the amount of sky glow in each picture and from these we could then compare the severity of the light pollution in each location.

We ended up winning the "Discovering Space Award" at the competition and as a result the school will receive some equipment from the European Space Education Resource Office. We also won 30euro in One-For-All vouchers each. So it was overall a very fun and productive day!

Swim a Mile with a Smile :)

On the Friday before we got our Easter holidays all the TYs went to the National Aquatic Centre take part in a charity swim. It was in aid of Barretstown and Crumlin Children's Hospital and also in memory of a young boy named Ian Daly. Each person aimed to swim a mile, either on their own or as part of a relay team. I was surprised and pleased when I managed to swim the whole mile by myself and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it (even though I was exhausted afterwards!) After the swim they opened up the water slides for us and we all had good fun whizzing down the Black Hole and Green Giant. All in all.. A wonderful day!

The Gáisce Hike!!

This weekend a group of fourteen Transition and Fifth Year students took a bus down to Wicklow in order to complete our Gáisce Hike. I had expected the hostel to be minimal and was very surprised at how nice the building and staff turned out to be. Our room was lovely and even had an upstairs! We set off at around four in the afternoon and began our hike of a section of the Wicklow Way. I didn't find it as difficult as people from previous years had made it out to be and thouroghly enjoyed every minute of it. We ended up finishing the hike earlier than expected and our guide complemented us on this, saying that we were one of the fastest groups he had every taken. When we arrived back at the hostel we went down to the self cateering kitchen and cooked our own dinners. I really liked this because it gave us more freedom and we got to eat whatever we prefered. We spent the rest of the evening watching a movie in the TV room and then went to bed thoroughly exausted! The next day we didn't have a lot of hiking left to do since we had completed the majority of the hike the day before. Because of this, we had some spare time in which we went orinteering, did archery and played some team games! When I arrived back home I was extemeley tired and slept really well that night. 

Trip to the GAA Museum and Croke Park!

On monday, we all went on a history trip to Croke Park and the GAA museum. We went at 12:00 and I, who had only ever seen the stadium from a distance, was struck by how huge it was! We entered the foyer through a door surrounded by the names of all the GAA clubs in Ireland and were taken through into a small lecture theater where we all sat down to watch a short film on the running of Croke Park. Once the film was over we were then taken on a tour of the stadium. We saw the changing rooms, the players' lounge, the transport tunnel and the commercial boxes. We then climbed up to the very top seats and looked out over the stadium while the guide pointed out the features and history of the place. Overall it was a very interesting experience, even for me a non-GAA follower! I would gladly go again!

Briery Gap Drama Competition!

On Tuesday we all went to Mullingar to participate in the All Ireland Drama Competition. The play that my group entered was our own adaption of the war poem "But You Didn't" by Merrill Glass. All the groups preformed wonderfully and we'll find out which groups get through to the finals some time next week...

Young Scientist!

Two weeks ago all the Tys went to the BT Young Scientist Competition for the day. We all had a great time looking at all the projects and watching the shows. One group from my class got through to the competition and they won the "Highly Commended" prize for their amazing project on free radicals and antioxidants. Well done girls!

Our Trip to Carlingford!

Last week our TY group went up to Louth to spend two days at Carlingford Adventure Centre. We had a great time, but arrived home tired, wet and aching. We left by bus at 7:00am and once we'd arrived were immediately sent out to do our morning activity; The High Ropes Course!! I was terrified watching my classmates scale up the ropes about 30 feet in the air and almost died with fright when I attempted it myself! In the afternoon we went back out to do kayaking and pier jumping (best fun ever!!) I have to say that the dinner and lunches impressed me. It wasn't the usual disgusting mulch that is commonly served in hostles, but gorgeous, filling meals! What followed that evening was the only low point of the trip, the hill walk.. What a fiasco!! We treked up a mountain in the pitch dark for three hours. It was foggy, lashing rain and blowing a gale!! We all slept well that night! :) The next day we did orienteering, archery and the Challenge Course. My team had so much fun in the box maze and nearly all of us got drenched while trying to cross the river!! I absolutely loved the trip, we had so much fun!!!!