Thursday 16 May 2013

Scifest at ITT

Yesterday was the next round of Scifest and it was held in ITT in Dublin. When we arrived we had to register and then head straight to our display area and set up our projects. We then had to stay at our area for an hour or two while the judges came around talking to us, and asking us questions about our project. We got questioned by 3 judges in total and we felt that we communicated very well them and explained out project well. When this part of the day was finished we were free to attend the various talks that were being held in the college. I went to the forensic science talk and the howling jelly babies talk, which was fun chemistry experiments. I got to partake in one of the experiments which was putting a banana in liquid nitrogen and then i hammered it to pieces. This was very entertaining.
After the talks it was time for the prize giving to take place. Unfortunetley my project didn't win anything but alot of prizes were awarded to St. Wolstan's. Overall we had a very enjoyable and informative day.


Thursday 2 May 2013

GAISCE!

Last weekend we went on the Gaisce hike up the Wicklow Mountains. We left Celbridge on friday and as soon as we reached Cappure we began our first half of the hike, which was 10k. We had to walk to the track hike started at a green hill with a small forest at the top. Once we emerged we could see a road leading about half way up the mountain. We started on our way with everyone in a good mood and excitement and anticipation filling the air. The weather stayed dry for the 2 days which was perfect but the hike in general was still very mucky and wet. At times it got very steep and that's when the going got really tough, but we all pulled through. On the first day when we reached the top we ate out lunch at the big pile of rocks. We found out after that it was a stone tunnel so we all had a turn of going through it and coming out the top. It was quite claustrophobic but i we managed to get through. We all really enjoyed the first day and we couldn't wait to get back to our houses for the evening!
The next day we had to be ready for 10.00 as we had the rest of the hike to finish. The weather was alot warmer on the second day but it wasn't as steep as the first day. It was longer today as we had 16k to do. We covered four peaks by the end of the day, which was very tireing and draining but we all did it! We were so happy that it was over but so glad that we did it!

Thursday 25 April 2013

Just keep swimming....

Last Friday the TY group took part in the annual Swim  a Mile With  a Smile fundraiser. It took place in the National Aquatic Centre and it was to raise money for cancer research and Barretstown. I took on the challenge of swimming the mile myself and I was delighted that i did. I swam 64 lengths while alot of the other girls swam part of or half a mile. Everyone did really well and overall we raised a good amount of money. After the swim we all went to Blancherstown and had lunch. It was a very enjoyable and rewarding day.

Thursday 18 April 2013

Pilgrimage and what not....



Yesterday, our whole TY year went on a day trip to Kildare town and then we went bowling after. We visited many places in Kildare, like the heritage centre, the round tower, the cathedral and St. Bridget's well. It was a very historic and cultural day as we found out many things about St. Bridget and Kildare that we didn't know.When we had finished the pilgrimage we went to Whitewater shopping centre for lunch and then we went bowling. All in all it was a very enjoyable and cultural day


Thursday 14 March 2013

TY Retreat

Yesterday, we had our annual retreat. This year since we were in TY went to a different place outside of Celbridge for our retreat. It was called the Dominican Retreat Centre and it was in Tallaght. It was a very unexpected day as I thought it would be completely religion based, but it was far from that. It was a very reflective day that got us to think about our lives and the people that are in it. We were all together in the morning talking about what's important in our lives and our worries for the future. These topics made us really think and i thought it was a good way to start off the day. From then on we were split into different groups and went to different rooms with a different worker each. We filled out a questionnaire about our family life and friends and then we discussed the answers together. It was a day filled with laughter but also seriousness as we discussed things that made us sad and difficult times in our lives.
After lunch we did an exercise where we said something about each person in the group. I really enjoyed this as you felt really good saying all these lovely things about people, but also hearing what they have to say about you.
At the end of the day we all wrote down a prayer and they were blessed in an urn and then burned. I got the honour to do this, which i was happy about to give further participation.
I thought it was a very good day!

Sunday 10 March 2013

D-DAY.....



Last Friday was the competition for Sci fest. It was the day that everybody had been working towards since the start of the year, and it was safe to say the nerves were running high! Me and my group felt very confident as we had our poster completely finished and we knew exactly what to say when the judges came around. There was 4 judges in total, with every group seeing at least 2. Our group though ended up talking to all 4 judges. We were very confident whilst talking about our project and we felt that we had explained our project well. It must have worked in our favor, all of our talking, as we got through to the next round! We were so happy as we also won the best communication award!
As well as out victory in science, that same day was the Wesley college choir competition. So even more nerves! We were on first in our category, which we thought was a good thing because we would be waiting then We felt that we had done pretty well and that we sounded very well for a newly formed choir this year. Unfortunately we didn't win, but we came third which we were delighted with.
All in all it was a very jam packed day, but it was all worth it and we all enjoyed it!

Thursday 28 February 2013

The History of History...

This week in history we have been given the task of doing a project on a controversial topic or person. We are on the subject of the history of history and how people or a movement in history effects the rest of the world. We can do our project on anything we want so i have decided to do my project on Mormonism  My teacher gave me the idea of this so i researched it. It actually is a very interesting topic as it is a recent enough religion but a very strict one. Many people oppose this religion or have ideas about how they sin and don't show real faith. I want to find out in my project what is true and what isn't. I am looking forward to starting this project.