I learned that while Suzanne was a very active person within her community she wasn't always interested in politics before she joined the County Council. Suzanne also spoke to us about her role in the County Council and how she works through politics to assist people in her local community. Suzanne also told us about problems in our locality such as parking problems in Kildare town and how she is working with the traffic management planners to resolve these issues. We really appreciate Suzanne taking the time to speak with us.
On November 25th we went to an anti-bullying workshop in KARE. We learnt about the different types of bullying, ways to overcome bullying and how to help a person/persons being bullied. On the day we started off by doing ice breakers with Mary-Claire McMahon. This helped us to bond with everyone in our class. We watched videos about bullying that made us realise how big a problem bullying has become. Overall, the workshop helped us to help others in the future if they are being bullied or if they even just want somebody to talk to we now know our classmates and friends are there for us. By Niamh Doran and Brian Lawler As we banged on the djembes with Deirdre Howard for the Drumming Workshop, there was a real tribal atmosphere. We really enjoyed this workshop as we got to make up our own rhythms while learning how to play a new instrument to us all! We got to work together as a class to play a traditional song and this made the workshop fun for us all. By Brian Lawler and Niamh Doran
During the astronomy workshop, Dr. Kevin Sweeney gave us a PowerPoint presentation about the difficulties living on the International Space Station (ISS) and the possibility of life on other planets. It was a very enjoyable and informational experience. By Brian Lawler and Niamh Doran Thank you to Yvonne and Pat from Dell who facilitated a very interesting discussion on career opportunities in IT
Good luck to all our students undertaking their first week of work experience. It is a very valuable opportunity to gain insights to potential career choices. Remember to write your reflections every evening.
,The DCU Academy was an a learning opportunity open to Transition year students through out Ireland. Students attended a three day course in The Helix to learn about business and enterprise. The were a total of 85 students who got the privilege to attend the academy. Five students from Cross and Passion College were offered places to partake in this academy.Jack Lee Parnell, Martin Allen, Saoirse Logan Mc Govern, Emma Keane and I were the five students lucky enough to get the opportunity to go to this academy.
On the first day of the camp we were all placed in groups with people from other schools that we had never met before. At the start I was nervous about this but after being in the group for the three days I realised that this made me and the people in my group try our best to represent our schools and show what we knew. We learned to to make and program a robot andsee who could build the biggest tower out of sticks of pasta and marshmallows. Although all these games were loads of fun, they were used to stimulate our brains and to get us into thinking of enterprise. After all this bonding with our new groups we were asked tom consider the problem of "making the transition from second level education to third level education". Over three days we had to come up with a solution to make this transition easier for the students, using the lean canvas. We were then shown how to make apps and websites. This was to make our ideas real and achievable. We heard many speakers about enterprise who helped us e develop our ideas. On the final day when all our ideas were ready we all had to create a Power Point presentation to showcase what solutions that we had come up with. Some groups had visuals of the websites and apps. Other groups came up with products such as care packages. We all presented to 'Dragons' Four groups were chosen from a total of eighteen. There was also one wild card to be picked. Four out five of the groups had students from Cross and Passion College were in the final. Saoirse's groups came first, winning mini Ipads. They have opportunity to make their app live. They will be going to DCU every Saturday now to work on the development of their app. My group came second. I also won a tablet for the best Snap Chats sent to the BOI team during the academy. It was the best experience that I have had in transition year so far, and it really interested me. It gave me and all the students that where in the academy the opportunity to see that even at fifteen and sixteen we can make a difference. By, Hannah Talt |
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