Eagle Flight Workshop
On the 22nd of September 2017, the whole of fourth year took part in the 'Eagle Flight Workshop'. This workshop worked on many abilities such as planning, co-operation and working together as a class and a team.
We started off by getting split into five different teams. Each team were told the rules and main aim of the game we were playing was to 'mine' as much gold as you possibly could in twenty days. This had to include getting to the mine in a number of days and getting home again. We also had a limited amount of supplies, fuel, batteries, tents and money. We were allowed to trade goods with other teams and communicate. Everyone chose when they wanted to leave the junction and what route they wanted to take, taking into account the weather and the amount of days it took to get to the mine, as every route took a certain amount of days.
As we went through each day the weather was put up on the screen, which was a huge factor of mobility. We had to use 'one fuel card and one supplies card everyday', this deemed difficult for some teams as food and fuel were scares. This task was challenging for some teams who didn't listen and communicate with each other. The teams that succeeded in the workshop were the ones who took their time with planning and communicated well with each other.
This workshop was very beneficial to everyone who took part and I would definitely recommend it to others
We started off by getting split into five different teams. Each team were told the rules and main aim of the game we were playing was to 'mine' as much gold as you possibly could in twenty days. This had to include getting to the mine in a number of days and getting home again. We also had a limited amount of supplies, fuel, batteries, tents and money. We were allowed to trade goods with other teams and communicate. Everyone chose when they wanted to leave the junction and what route they wanted to take, taking into account the weather and the amount of days it took to get to the mine, as every route took a certain amount of days.
As we went through each day the weather was put up on the screen, which was a huge factor of mobility. We had to use 'one fuel card and one supplies card everyday', this deemed difficult for some teams as food and fuel were scares. This task was challenging for some teams who didn't listen and communicate with each other. The teams that succeeded in the workshop were the ones who took their time with planning and communicated well with each other.
This workshop was very beneficial to everyone who took part and I would definitely recommend it to others
Mini company talk
We were given a very informal business talk by a woman names Serena Bryan's from the county enterprise board. She informed us on our mini company ideas and what to do and what not to do. She told us about the overall marks and what the judges look for in your company or service. She showed us previous winners and what their ideas were. She reminded us how simple and idea can be to win! To prove how easy it is to come up with an idea, she handed us a paper clip each. She then told us to talk to the person beside us about how many different ideas we could use a paper clip for. This really helped, as many groups had many different ideas.
IT is not just for geeks
On Friday the 29th of September two guest speakers from Del came in to talk to us about a future career in IT.
Aidan and Marie were the people from Del, presenting their 'IT is not just for geeks' talk, on a PowerPoint presentation. In the PowerPoint they showed us videos of people who work in IT and the benefits of it. Both Aidan and Marie told us the countries they'd been to while working with Del, Marie gets to travel because of the job she has in Del while Aidan wanted to travel around the world and Del still gave him the opportunity to do that, as he was able to work from abroad.
Before this talk I thought that there was no way I would ever be able to work in IT, but I now realise there are many different roles of IT that don't require you to be amazing with computers.
I thought this speech was really beneficial because it opened up even more options for what I want to do in the future.
Aidan and Marie were the people from Del, presenting their 'IT is not just for geeks' talk, on a PowerPoint presentation. In the PowerPoint they showed us videos of people who work in IT and the benefits of it. Both Aidan and Marie told us the countries they'd been to while working with Del, Marie gets to travel because of the job she has in Del while Aidan wanted to travel around the world and Del still gave him the opportunity to do that, as he was able to work from abroad.
Before this talk I thought that there was no way I would ever be able to work in IT, but I now realise there are many different roles of IT that don't require you to be amazing with computers.
I thought this speech was really beneficial because it opened up even more options for what I want to do in the future.
Well-being week!
From the 6th to the 10th of November our school celebrated well being week, we were given talks on something to do with our well being throughout the week. My YSI group also came up with the idea that a theme for well being week should be food for thought, as we felt it was important that our school were healthy both mentally and physically. Mr. Geraghty also came up with the wonderful idea of assigning each year group a colored ribbon to wear on their uniform for the week, each colour had a different meaning.
1st years - yellow - optimism
2nd years - blue - trust
3rd years - green - prosper
4th years - purple - creative
5th years - orange - imagination
6th years - light grey - balance
Our first talk was given in the junior school hall, all 4th 5th and 6th years were really excited to be able to receive a talk from the minister of health, Simon Harris. Simon started off his talk by explaining who he was and what he does, he explained to us that he was happy to be speaking in a school that put so much interest into wellbeing week. As the talk continued we began to learn more about how we can change our diets to eating more healthily. It was explained to us that even if we are not inclined to playing sports we need to do some form of experiments to keep healthy. We also learned about the new food pyramid, which was really interesting because I hadn't heard about it before. Even though Simon Harris' talk was only 30 minutes long I still learnt a lot from it and really enjoyed it.
Later on that day the 4th 5th and 6th years all gathered in the hall once again, to receive a talk from the former Irish model Alison Canavan. Alison also began her talk by telling us who she was, Alison didn't hesitate to inform us that she was going to be very honest with us about what her life used to be like, and about some of the tough things she has been through in her life so far. Alison started modeling at a very young age which she says, easily exposed her to drink and drugs, she admitted that she felt like a better version of herself when she was partying and began to believe that , that was the only way she could be happy. Alison also said she didn't know it wasn't normal to find it a struggle to get out of bed in the morning and didn't talk to anyone about the fact she was constantly feeling down. We proceeded to learn more about her addictions, her son and how she went from having being extremely rich to having nothing, she said something really interesting after telling us all of this, she said that when she had everything anyone could ever want such as cars and money and an amazing home, she felt empty, but when she had nearly nothing and was living with her mum, she felt content. We did breathing exercises with Alison for people with anxiety and for if anyone ever needs to calm down. She spoke about a wide range of things from, drugs, to anxiety, to having a victims mentality. With regards to having a victims mentality she said to us that it is very easy to blame everyone else, but that the world doesn't happen to us, we happen to the world, which means we can't expect things to just go our way all the time and we need to make an effort to gain positive things from around us. Alison spoke a lot about being positive and always trying to have a positive attitude. We all didn't want the speech to end as it put is all into the best mood, Alison really made the speech relatable to us and you could tell she was so passionate about what she was saying. Alison's talk was my favorite part of well being week and I'm so glad we got the privilege of listening to her.
Our third talk of the week was about nutrition, given by an actual nutritionist. The speaker told us about the digestive system and what we should be eating, she said she doesn't believe in the saying you are what you eat, she believes you are what you digest. This talk was really interesting.
Our final talk of the week was from Aware. The speaker, Steve, started off by telling us what he does and then continued to inform us what we would learn in the talk. We learnt the stages of depression and how prevent it from happening, we also learnt how to deal with situation that make us stressed by telling ourselves how we feel. I leant a lot from Steves talk.
I loved well being week and can't wait till next year to do it again
1st years - yellow - optimism
2nd years - blue - trust
3rd years - green - prosper
4th years - purple - creative
5th years - orange - imagination
6th years - light grey - balance
Our first talk was given in the junior school hall, all 4th 5th and 6th years were really excited to be able to receive a talk from the minister of health, Simon Harris. Simon started off his talk by explaining who he was and what he does, he explained to us that he was happy to be speaking in a school that put so much interest into wellbeing week. As the talk continued we began to learn more about how we can change our diets to eating more healthily. It was explained to us that even if we are not inclined to playing sports we need to do some form of experiments to keep healthy. We also learned about the new food pyramid, which was really interesting because I hadn't heard about it before. Even though Simon Harris' talk was only 30 minutes long I still learnt a lot from it and really enjoyed it.
Later on that day the 4th 5th and 6th years all gathered in the hall once again, to receive a talk from the former Irish model Alison Canavan. Alison also began her talk by telling us who she was, Alison didn't hesitate to inform us that she was going to be very honest with us about what her life used to be like, and about some of the tough things she has been through in her life so far. Alison started modeling at a very young age which she says, easily exposed her to drink and drugs, she admitted that she felt like a better version of herself when she was partying and began to believe that , that was the only way she could be happy. Alison also said she didn't know it wasn't normal to find it a struggle to get out of bed in the morning and didn't talk to anyone about the fact she was constantly feeling down. We proceeded to learn more about her addictions, her son and how she went from having being extremely rich to having nothing, she said something really interesting after telling us all of this, she said that when she had everything anyone could ever want such as cars and money and an amazing home, she felt empty, but when she had nearly nothing and was living with her mum, she felt content. We did breathing exercises with Alison for people with anxiety and for if anyone ever needs to calm down. She spoke about a wide range of things from, drugs, to anxiety, to having a victims mentality. With regards to having a victims mentality she said to us that it is very easy to blame everyone else, but that the world doesn't happen to us, we happen to the world, which means we can't expect things to just go our way all the time and we need to make an effort to gain positive things from around us. Alison spoke a lot about being positive and always trying to have a positive attitude. We all didn't want the speech to end as it put is all into the best mood, Alison really made the speech relatable to us and you could tell she was so passionate about what she was saying. Alison's talk was my favorite part of well being week and I'm so glad we got the privilege of listening to her.
Our third talk of the week was about nutrition, given by an actual nutritionist. The speaker told us about the digestive system and what we should be eating, she said she doesn't believe in the saying you are what you eat, she believes you are what you digest. This talk was really interesting.
Our final talk of the week was from Aware. The speaker, Steve, started off by telling us what he does and then continued to inform us what we would learn in the talk. We learnt the stages of depression and how prevent it from happening, we also learnt how to deal with situation that make us stressed by telling ourselves how we feel. I leant a lot from Steves talk.
I loved well being week and can't wait till next year to do it again