DE LA SALLE TY NEWSLETTER - De La Salle College Waterford
Transcription
DE LA SALLE TY NEWSLETTER - De La Salle College Waterford
DE LA SALLE TY NEWSLETTER Volume 1, Issue 1 Winter 2015/2016 Comeragh Mountains During the year, each TY class has gone on a hiking trip in the Comeragh Mountains. We started at Mahon falls and hiked to two lakes including Lake Coumshingaun. We all enjoyed the day ever much. It was good to be outdoors, hiking through a beautiful natural environment with friends and it was a good bonding experience also as it was early on in the year. We thought that it was one of the best trips we did throughout the term and would be happy to do it again. Overall was an amazing day. By Eoin Kenny. Dundrum Trip On Thursday 17th of December, all of the TY students, went on a trip to the Dundrum Town Centre. We arrived at 11am and went straight to Dundrum on Ice. After an enjoyable hour there we were free to go shopping in the wide variety of stores there! It was a very enjoyable social outing. We arrived home at 6.30pm. Everyone had a fantastic day! By Jack O’Neill and Shane Barrett Kavanagh. Newsletter 1 St Patrick’s Carol Service Work Experience November 2015 In December, approximately 40 volunteers from TY, walked to St Patrick’s nursing Home to sing a variety of Christmas carols to the patients in the nursing home. The service was organised by Mr Dooley, it was thoroughly enjoyed by the students, patients and staff! During the month of November 2015 Transition Year students went on their first week of work experience for the year. For one week, we got to work in jobs we may be interested in doing in the future. This proved to be a very important week in the year, as the week has made some students surer of their career paths and made others change their minds. There was a huge variety of destinations throughout my class, from accounting offices, engineering companies, primary schools, gyms and much more. I went to Douglas Carroll Consulting Engineers in Waterford. During the week I was doing some of the work the engineers would do on a regular basis when designing the lighting and piping for the buildings. I thought this was very interesting, I would really like to do it as a career now and I would love to go back to the company at some point in the future. The feedback from my classmates was great; all of them really enjoyed it and are looking forward to our next week in April! By David Heffernan. Young SVP The De La Salle Young SVP committee is a youth branch of St Vincent De Paul in our school. The Saint Vincent De Paul committee in De La Salle has tripled in size since last year and has been hard at work raising funds for the local community. Since this year’s committee was first organised in late October/early November it has raised €1460 from a no uniform day and has received considerable donations from the SVP food appeal. Plans are already being discussed for various other events through-out the rest of the year. We look forward to continued work within our school to aid the less fortunate in our community. By Brian Burke. Focus Ireland Collection By Gerard O’ Connor, Committee President. On the 23/10/2015 my classmates and I went collecting money in aid of Focus Ireland for the homeless. During the day we filled up our buckets with change that the people of Waterford had kindly donated to the charity. Overall we raised approximately €900 for a great charity that we were happy to support. By Jordan Griffith. Newsletter 2 Aware In November, Stephen, From Aware Ireland, came in to do a workshop with us. Aware is a voluntary organization that was founded to assist those affected by mental illness and depression. He talked to us about our thoughts and feelings, as a group. He talked to us about the “Coping Triangle” method of dealing with depression. It was an interesting experience for a group of guys to talk about mental illness together; you don’t get to experience that every day. By Shane Barrett Kavanagh. A Case of Conspiracy In September, a former Australian forensic scientist came in to our school, to do a workshop with us about forensic science and detective work. We had to solve a murder using different forms of forensics, at stations positioned around the Senior Library. It was a fun workshop that gave us an insight into the work of detectives and forensic scientists. By Jordan Griffith and Shane Barrett Kavanagh. The Matrix Workshop The Matrix Workshop was an extremely productive day in which we were taught study tips and much more, by leader Malcolm Rowe. Malcolm was very enthusiastic and knowledgeable; he gave invaluable advice to us. The Matrix Workshop was completely based on what previous Transition Year students think would have helped them in their Leaving Cert and in College. Malcolm talked about the recipe for getting the results you want in school. He emphasised how important it is to have an activity in which you de-stress and recommended use of meditation to do this. Malcolm also covered exam technique and gave us the opportunity to discuss topics that were on our mind. Overall, it was it was a very important talk and Malcolm Rowe did a fantastic job of keeping it entertaining for the whole day. By Andrew Mulhall. Ballyhass On September second of this year, the newly-formed TY's of 2015/2016 set off on a fantastic trip to Ballyhass Adventure Centre in Mallow, Co. Cork. Here, the TY's climbed wooden frames the likes of which most had never seen, canoed through a dark, vast lake in the centre of the area, took part in teamwork exercises with their brand new companions and last but not least, glided through the air on an extremely high up zip line which overlooked the surrounding idyllic countryside and stood high above the shimmering lake on which the centre lies on. It was truly a great day to remember for the Ty’s and it was only a small taste of what was before us all in Transition Year. By Jack O’Neill Newsletter 3 BT Young Scientist TY Retreat In 1963 two physics researchers from the University College Dublin, Rev. Dr. Tom Burke and Dr. Tony Scott, came across the concept of ‘Science Fairs’ while conducting research in New Mexico, America. The pair decided that this type of hands-on science was something that students in Ireland could benefit from. And so the Young Scientist Exhibition was born. BT has been the proud sponsor and organiser of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition for 15 years. The exhibition allows secondary school students to showcase a project in which they have spent time, researching and developing and allows them to learn about other students’ projects. By Darragh Quinn, BT Young Scientist Contestant. This year the TY classes went to Saint Paul’s Community Centre for their retreat. We did many activities such as a quick reaction activity and an activity where you talk to a person to learn about them and then remember as many facts about them as you can. The most outstanding activity where everyone’s sheet, with their name on it, was passed around and you would have to write something positive about that person on their sheet. It increased a lot of people’s self-confidence. It was a strange retreat, but was a fun one! By Callum Oram. Footloose “! Everybody cut Footloose!” The DLS College show this year was “Footloose”. It was the first time ever this show was put on in Waterford and was a big success. Many of the nights were sold out. The show was set in 1984 and is about a newcomer Ren McCormack (Tadgh Brennan) from Chicago, he is in shock when he discovers the small Midwestern town he now calls home has made dancing and rock music illegal. As he struggles to fit in, Ren faces an uphill battle to change things. With the help of his new friend, Willard Hewitt (Tomas Moore) and defiant teen Ariel Moore (Aishling Larkin) he might loosen up this conservative town. But Ariel's influential father, Reverend Shaw Moore (Ben Nolan) stands in the way. Rehearsals began in August and cast had to work hard as rehearsals were almost daily. It was a very enjoyable experience and something I’m proud to have been part of! I would encourage anyone who is interested, to get involved! Those who wouldn’t want to act can help out with backstage or front of house! By David Heffernan, Cast Member. Newsletter 4 Bank of Ireland School Bank Programme Our school bank here in the college, “Bank to the Future”, was launched on the 27th of November of this year, hundreds of students, teachers and other staff came to the event in the school sports hall. The event itself was a fantastic occasion that saw the visit of Eoin Kelly of Tipperary and our local Déise heroes, Maurice Shanahan, and Pauric Mahony. We couldn’t have gotten to this stage without the help of our Bank of Ireland coordinators who worked hard in supporting the bank team and providing them with the training we need to operate the bank professionally. The bank team was selected after an application and interview process, after which, the five permanent staff members were chosen, over 20 students are involved in total. The bank opens each Wednesday at lunch time, 1.10pm to 1.50pm, on the C-floor; students from all years are free to open a fully functioning Bank of Ireland second level account, lodge money, and avail of other such banking functions. No photo ID or proof of address is needed! There are no fees or charges on the accounts! We have opened in excess of 130 accounts to date. Banking is an important part of everyday life in the modern age and can be of great benefit to young people, allowing them to save securely and use electronic payment methods online, in chip and pin machines etc. It is also of great benefit for the school, as Bank of Ireland sponsors rewards for setting up certain numbers of accounts, including cash, iPads and rugby tickets. Students with accounts in the bank can avail of access to events, such as, training sessions with Henry Shefflin and Seamus Calnan, the TYs who can attend a trip to a Munster rugby game later in the year, and other such events, if they set up an account! We look forward to banking with you in the future! If you wish to contact us, find us on Facebook “Bank to the Future” and on Twitter “Bank to the Future” (@bank2tfuture!) By Shane Barrett Kavanagh, Branch Manager. French Breakfast For a double class in September, all the TY French students were invited to the dining hall to enjoy a French style breakfast. It consisted of pain au chocolats, croissants and hot chocolate! It was delicious and great fun! By David Heffernan. Synagogue and Mosque Trip In November, TY Religion classes went to Dublin to further their knowledge on world religions in Ireland. This trip included the visit of both a Mosque and a Synagogue. We first went to the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland, where we were given a tour of the mosque and taught about the Islamic religion and customs. We then visited Terenure Synagogue and we were given another tour and were taught about the Jewish faith and worship practices. It was a great experience and we all learned a lot! By Jack O’ Neill. Newsletter 5 Edmund Rice Religion Trip Law Workshop 15th– 19th Over the course of the week of the of November, all Transition Year classes of De La Salle took part in a Law Workshop here in the college. Every T.Y class took an entire day each to take part in the workshop. The workshop was done with us by a barrister, James Fahey who travels to different schools around the country doing this Law Education/Workshop. He explained and discussed with us numerous aspects of the Irish Legal System such as the Courts System, civil versus criminal and gave us some of examples of each. He also shared with us an abundance of the terminology used. He also gave us a detailed breakdown of the role of a lawyer, barrister, etc. and their roles in the Law. This was a very interesting experience as we got to learn a lot of things about this area that we wouldn’t normally learn about in school. At the end of our time with him, after sharing a number of his own experiences of different cases and the aspects connected to them we ‘performed’ a mock trial. This involved several students in a class being given roles of witness, defendant, barrister etc., etc. along with a script. However we did not follow the script. It was used as an information source for the cross – examination and defence of the different characters called to the stand that were involved in the incident. The whole workshop was a thoroughly enjoyable and unique experience which was very informative on the topic of law. Mr Fahey did a great job and made the workshop the memorable day that it was. I think that it’s safe to say that all of T.Y enjoyed their particular days in this workshop. By Cian Kehoe. During the month of October, Transition Year classes went to Mount Sion Primary School to the Edmund Rice Centre and to Callan, the birth place of Edmund Rice, where the house he grew up in still stands, although it has been remodelled, based on the original cottage. In Mount Sion we were all given a tour of the school, where we learned about the life and work of Blessed Edmund Rice. We then went to the birthplace of Edmund Rice, where we learned about the upbringing of Edmund Rice and his icon, which tells the story of his life and the things that were of significant importance in his life which changed who he was and would determine who he was to become. This was a very interesting and informative trip which all the students thoroughly enjoyed. Brian Burke. TY Mass 6th On Friday the of November we had our annual Transition Year mass in the chapel. It consisted of readings, hymns, offertory procession, Eucharist, and other such customs, all of which were performed by TY students. It was a mass to give thanks for a great year, in the hope that the coming year will be just as good for us TYs. It went very smoothly and was a very nice occasion to be a part of! By Jack O’ Neill and Shane Barrett Kavanagh. Newsletter 6