Self-help Africa

As part of the millennium development goals which we are studying in religion, today we attended a Self-help Africa workshop in the parish centre in Carlow.
CBS in Carlow and the Clane school were also there. After a brief introduction, we were divided into groups to attend 3 out of 4 workshops. They organised the groups in such a way that there was at least a few students from each school in every team.
The first workshop I attended aimed at making us more aware of the worldwide problem of HIV & Aids. I suppose the thing that stood out to me the most in this workshop was that although Ireland has one of the lowest percentages of HIV & Aids sufferers, the amount that we do have is still incredibly high & the risk of infection so great.
Next we moved on to a talk about Lesotho, a small landlocked country in South Africa. Jim Kirwan spoke about his experiences during his two-year stay there, where he was a teacher for local pupils. Some of the stories he told us & the pictures he presented really opened my eyes to the hardships faced in these developing countries. It was interesting to hear that people as old as 22 were completing their junior cert & were so eager to learn! Another thing that struck me was the level of racism in this country...although apartheid was made illegal in 1994, there still is a sense of discrimination evident today.
To finish up, after lunch, we went to our final workshop of the day which was centered around conflict resolution, using Israel & Palestine as examples of countries where this seems to be an immense problem. First we were told about why conflict exists between the two countries & told about why the different flags cause such disturbance...even using the Irish & British flag as an example. We were also told about the work that they do over in Israel & Palestine...ie, developing connections with teenagers. The man giving the presentation showed us some clips of Israelites & Palestinians talking...it was truly moving to hear what they've been through at such a young age.

Science Labs

Today we went on a tour to the Department of Agriculture & Food on the outskirts of Celbridge. We were there for bout 2 & a half hours, being shown around the different departments.
We were told about how the scientists carry out different experiments, such as dairy tests & preparing bacterial colonies using agar dishes.
While on the tour, we had to wear a sort of see-through disposable lab coat with a coloured sticker. I was in the red group.
Everybody in the labs were very friendly & on the way out, we were given a few tokens from science week...a bookmark, a pen & a little puffball sticker =D

Moate Theatre

Today was our final visit to the Moate Theatre in Naas for our mini-company projects. Unlike the other two meetings, this time, it was only our school & CBS that attended.
After taking our seats, we picked up where we had left off at the previous meeting...laying out our promotion strategy. Once she had got examples from a few marketing managers from both schools, we moved on to how to describe our product quickly & effectively, under the following headings:
My product is
My product does
The benefits are.
We also took the time then to show Orla our prototypes which I had collected from Athlone on the weekend. Although the design had completely changed, she still seemed pleased with our work & expressed her hopes for our performance in the upcoming competitions (:
Finally to finish off we were told how to write our business reports & shown a video indicating to us how to communicate with the judges...however far fetched & over the top it was :P

Work V

Today was our last day of work experience =( After spending the week with all the gang, it's sad to think I may never see them again.
In the morning, a detective, John & a detective from the Criminal Intelligence Bureau came in to talk to us about their work & showed us briefly how fingerprinting worked.They also showed us the weapons that they carry around...Smith & Wesson gun, pepper spray, baton, stab-proof vest & handcuffs. The community guards also carry these items, except they are not armed with a gun.
In the afternoon, Aidan & Niall spoke to us about the work that they do & what being a guard is like. What they were saying was really interesting...they were explaining how people never seem to see past the uniform & realise that guards are people too, just like everybody else. They really were though the most genuine & down to earth people I've ever met

Work Part IV

So today we visited the GWU...Garda Water Unit in Sallins, where we were shown some of the boats used in rescue or recovery missions & all the electronic devices, such as sonar equipment (generally for locating fish, but used here to measure the depth of the water) & a machine which looked like a SAT NAV. We were also shown the scuba gear, eg dry suits, air tanks, face masks & contamination prevention suits, which are used while in the sewers. After being shown all the equipment, we were told about how the unit works & the different missions they may have to go on, from recovering dead bodies from seas or lakes, to searching for cars.
After a quick lunch, we moved on to the traffic core in NAAS. Here, we were shown haunting clips of people being killed stone dead from being hit by cars & people being thrown from vehicles following a crash. Apparently, reducing your speed by even 10km/h can drastically increase your chance of survival in the event of an accident occurring...
60km/h.....85% chance of being killed
50km/h.....45% chance of being killed
30km/h.....5% chance of being killed



Work Part III

Today was the longest day of work yet, but probably the most enjoyable (: In the morning we went to the Garda Mounted Unit in the Phoenix Park. There we met some of the horses, such as Comhall & Deaglán & were told how they were trained & how they "dressed" for special occasions such as the Queens visit :)

Next we, once again got a bite to eat in Mc Donalds & headed over to the Garda Dog Unit :P There we met some officers & their dogs...such as Felix, Bailey & Jack. Some were Labradors & some were German shepherds. Despite the fact they were trained to sniff out explosives, drugs or human scent & were trained to attack on command, they were surprisingly friendly!

Finally towards the end of the day, we took a trip to GASU...Garda Air Supply Unit, where we were shown a clip of guards chasing a man armed with a knife ^_^ There, we also saw one of the Garda helicopters take off. It was quite an amazing experience! :D

Work Part II

This morning we took a trip to the four courts ; we were given a brief tour & shown into each of the court rooms, although no trial was in procession. The courtyard was very 20th century style...it looked almost Romanesque.
Next we moved onto smaller courts where we witnessed a few trials where people were suing various companies for littering & such. The trials were extremely quick, each one lasting only about one minute. There was no jury for these minor offences, just a judge who when given a quick summary & told whether they plea guilty or not guilty, gave his verdict eg. €200 fine to be paid in 90 days.
After this, we went to the newer courts...the building was amazing; ultra modern with glass lifts...as opposed to the old-style four courts. Here we had a listen in on several minor cases on the ground floor, before moving on to a more serious offense....the Stephen Collins trial! It was really interesting to see such a high profile, serious case in motion! I heard snippets from the case on the radio on the way home :)
Next it was time for lunch :D so we took a trip to liffey valley & got mc donalds.
Our last visit of the day was to the garda museum where a tour guide showed us around & told us about how the guards we have in Ireland today, evolved since about 1922. We saw all the different types of uniforms & badges throughout the ages & saw the vault from which the crown jewels were stolen!

First day at work :D

So I'm just home from my first day at work experience at Leixlip Garda Station & it went brilliantly :D Everyone else who had a placement there and myself, waited in the station for our supervisors to arrive at 9:30. There was twelve TY students there in total....
Myself
Kellie
Bebhinn
Emma
Rachel
Stephen
Shane
Greg
Connor
Daniel &
Mick
After Niall & Aiden (the supervisors) introduced themselves, we all headed off in the mini bus for Templemore, where guards are trained. There we met Deirdre, who showed us around the building, eg. the lecture theatres, a classroom, the "court room" (where they practise court cases) & a room where they have a practical exam with an actor, where they are examined on how they react in certain situations, for example delivering bad news after a death.
Next we went to the cafeteria for lunch....which was gigantic! They sometimes would have about 1'200 students there at the one time, however they have stopped training at present.
After lunch Deirdre showed us around the rest of the complex....the swimming pool, the gym, the dorms & the courtyard where the guards go on marches every week to be inspected. She also told us about the training process & the importance of fitness while training to become a guard.
Once this was over, Aidan & Niall spoke to us briefly about the driving school & then we headed home. At the toll bridge, we were charged because they would not believe it was a garda vehicle...despite the two officers dressed in full uniform in the front seat (:

AIT

Well I'm just back from the Athlone Institute of Technology & could not be happier! xD After being in contact with Michael for several weeks in relation to getting a prototype made for our mini-company product "Knot a Problem", today we finally got the chance to speak with him and his colleagues about our design.
The day seemed off to a bad start when we got stuck in traffic on the motor-way & had to take several diversions, due to an accident. Despite this however, we managed to arrive at 12:03, just 3 minutes late! We were introduced to Michael himself first, who told us our schedule for the day & brought us over to James who discussed our designs, proposed ways of improving it & talked about the manufacturing process. He also brought us around & showed us some of the high-tech machines they use in the Institute for prototyping. I had no idea the machinery, materials & cost for manufacture was so expensive! The moulds alone for our original design were estimated at a price of approximately €6'000! :(
Next we were brought to another board room where we met Ann-Marie Durkin, a very successful entrepreneur....creater of Steri Soother & Steri-Ova (a compact, portable & quick steriliser for babies bottles). She told us about her rise to the top...how she started out, the difficulties she encountered & how she overcame them. Her story really was inspiring; it is amazing how far determination for success can take you! They had prepared an entire powerpoint presentation just for us! When that was over, we were shown into a small lunch room where an array of sandwiches was laid out for us. During lunch, we chatted with Michael & Ann-Marie about TY...the opportunities it creates & they expressed their interest in the work we were doing....they thought it was a great idea that we were getting business experience; meeting with clients & such at a young age and told us they would help us in any way they could ^_^
Finally at around 14:00, we met with Conor; an apparent "genius" at design & engineering :) After chatting with him, it became clear that we had to change our design completely; it was too complex, had too many components & materials & would cost much more than a group of school students could afford =] So after some deliberation, we decided on a slightly larger & straightforward model & he agreed to make a prototype for us before our visit to the Moate Theatre on the 15th November....so hopefully everything will go according to plan & our product will not snap in half during our demo! xD
We are all so grateful to the institute for giving up their free time to meet with us especially on such short notice & it was clear they had put a lot of planning into our visit. They told us to keep them updated throughout the year & let them know how our product was getting on; I'm still trying to comprehend why they were so willing to help without asking for anything in return!

Pilates :/

So today for double p.e. we started pilates with Angela in the library while Amina did dancing. So far it seems pretty similar to yoga except more...strenuous :/
To start off, we were told about the muscles we would be targeting & shown how to keep our stomach sucked in for maximum benefit (:
After being shown how to breathe properly without relaxing our stomach, we did various exercises, which although was fun, was pretty hard work, i kept forgetting to breathe!

Young Scientist

So today the letter came back to the science teachers....our group did not get through to the BT young scientist competition.
Our basic idea was to take samples from everyday commonly shared items such as mobile phones, money & library books & place them on agar dishes in an incubator for 2-3 days. We were then going to break down the bacterial colonies present (pathogenic & non-pathogenic) & test them for immunity to anti-biotics xD
Apparently, somebody else had a similar project to ours but a bit more developed :)
One of the TY groups did get through & one person from 5th year
& that's it....well I think :P

Projects & Such :)

Well it's the first day back after mid-term & I'm exhausted already, it completely flew by. =( The first term of TY has been great so far & we have got plenty work done:
French project.....Henri Matisse
French project.....Sonia Rykiel
History project.....The Cold War
Geography project.....Round the world trip (I chose Luxembourg & Azerbaijan)
Young Scientist.....Bacteria found on common everyday items & their immunity to anti-biotics.
Right now, I'm working on my powerpoint presentation for Azerbaijan...the food there looks far from appetising so I think I'll play some traditional music or their eurovision song instead :) Also starting to work on my History project for Christmas...a local place of interest (: I'll most likely do mine on Celbridge since it's my home & has a lot of history to it xD
Ah also this term, we have to complete our music assignment...composing a piece of music with an "adventure" theme in small groups. Each group must use the piano, guitar & some percussion....I think I'm being forced into playing saxophone =( Finding it pretty hard at the moment, but hopefully we'll get some inspiration soon.
Mini-Company is pretty stressful at present...our de-knotter device seems to be confusing manufacturers & we need to get a prototype ready in less than two weeks, before our next trip to the Moate Theatre. I'm just hoping that when it's finally finished, it will actually work! We're trying to organize a meeting with a possible manufacturer for this coming Friday but we have a work experience workshop on at the same time, so not sure how things will work out :/

Trip to Bray

Over the October Mid-term break, myself and a few other T.Y. students organised a trip to the beach so that we could bond together as a group. Although time disco was on the night before & we had a maximum of about 5 hours sleep, we hauled ourselves out of bed...well off the floor really & walked (ran frantically) to the bus stop.
Rain was pelting down & the wind was relentless so needless to say..not many people showed up :)
Our original plan was to go to portmarnock but after missing the bus, we decided to get the dart to Bray instead.

When we arrived, despite the torrential showers, we went to the beach anyways & two crazy people went  swimming (Mia & Leah).
After a rather unsuccessful attempt at doing a barbeque & stuffing our face with food, we made our way back to Pearse Street to get the bus home....where all the drama began ^_^
3 of the girls had run ahead on a mad dash to the bus, as for the third time that day, we were running late. When the rest of us showed up panting outside the bus doors, we stood there for a while, looking confused....the bus driver refused to let us on the bus even though he had not begun moving yet. So...we had the clever idea of running to the nest stop before the bus got there, which involved running across two main roads with 4 lanes & several streets.
After being refused entry AGAIN, we decided to wait for the next bus.