Mercy Ballymahon Notes

Notes by: Tami Dania and Sarah Cox

Transition Year:

On Thursday 26th April, TY1 and TY2 visited Boda Borg as a part of their TY Logic class. They were accompanied by their teachers, Mr. Dromey and Ms. Daly.

TY students participated in a Farm Safety course held at the Ballymahon Mart on Wednesday 25th April. Students who attended : Keith O'Halleran, Patrick Smyth, Richard Sweetnam,  Chara Mtisi, Patrick Conlon, Eoghan Bannon,  Ella Mc Monagle,  Richard Prior,  Shane Prior,  Dylan Coady,  Bryn Peters,  Edel Clabby,  Dillon Ryan,  Jack Murtagh,  Ciaran Mc Donnell , Ciaran Hanley, Richard Laffan and Brian Casey. Thanks to Mr. Munds for accompanying the students.

Three TY students, Ali O’Connor, Zoe Guinane and Rebecca Gill, attended the science competition Scifest which took place in The Helix in DCU. The title of their project was ‘An investigation into the way in which digital devices alter our perception of time’. The competition took place on Tuesday the 24th of April. There were 350 students participating in the event and 166 projects.

Sciefest win dcu helix.JPG

The girls’ experiment involved participants reading an extract from a book in a physical copy and then from a digital device. In each case the participants had to read for what they estimated to be two minutes. They were timed and the actual time and the perceived time were recorded. The experiment was carried out on over 200 people. A survey was also carried out on over 250 people and it included questions regarding lifestyle in relation to their use of digital devices and reading. The results they got proved that there is a relationship between our perception of time and the use of digital devices in which digital devices lengthen our perception of time.

The girls received great feedback from the judges and were awarded Best Project in Life Sciences for the Intermediate/Senior Category. They received D.C.U hoodies and want to say a huge thanks to their science teacher Ms. Fiona Noone.

Thanks to  Brian Casey, Gordan farrell, Jacob Kajan, James Murphy, Ryan Shannon, Niall McGarry, Liadhan Farrell, Amy Cox, Lucy Ann Myhill Sean Kenny, Laoise Nerney and Olivia Hoysted for visiting the Day Care Centre this week and to Francesca McGreal and Shauna Gilbride who visited the Bridgeways homework club last week.

Sport:

Congratulations to Mr Dempsey and the first year boys’ basketball team who beat Abbey Grammar Newry, Knockbeg College Carlow and St Brendan’s Belmullet at the All Ireland playoffs on Tuesday the 24th of April which were held at Mercy Ballymahon. They are now through to the All-Ireland semi-final against Old Bawn Community School, Tallaght, which will take place in the National Basketball Arena, Tallaght on Friday the 4th of May.

Commiserations to Ms. Carr and the second year girls’ basketball team who lost just one of the three games at the All-Ireland playoffs on Friday the 20th April which also took place in Mercy Ballymahon. The girls beat the Presentation Killarney and Coláiste Einda, Galway before losing to Mercy Waterford who are current All Ireland champions

News:

First year students visited Knock for their annual retreat on Thursday 26th of April. They were accompanied by TY students, Sophie Hogan, Caitlin Farrell, Rebecca Gill and Zoe Guinane and teachers, Ms. O’Reilly, Ms. Fitzmaurice, Mr. Larkin and Mr. Walsh.

The Ag Science students completed their orals on Thursday last. This Oral exam and project is worth 25% of their Leaving Certificate Ag. Science exam.

Our school trustees CEIST have been seeking volunteers to help out at the World meeting of families in August 25th and 26th. To date 40 students from Transition and 5th year have volunteered. They will be helping out during the Pope’s visit to Ireland in Croke Park and the Phoenix Park and will be staying overnight at another CEIST school in the Dublin area. Thanks to Mrs. Bohan for coordinating the students.

Thought for the week:

You can’t use up creativity. The more you use the more you have