This week we entered 10 projects into the Young Environmentalist Awards Competition. Students from 1st, 3rd and 4th Year entered a variety of projects on topics ranging from food waste to fast fashion. We had three first year entries. Edel Ryle and Emily Haydon entered a project called “Fresh Herbs, Fresh Start” which deals with the environmental issue of food miles. 1A8 entered a project on bird species called “Bringing Birds Back”, they made their own bird feeders and are now feeding the birds on the school grounds. 1A5 have entered a project called “Reduce Plastic, That Would Be Fantastic”, they have worked on getting a reusable bottle for our school with the school logo. 3A5 have worked really hard on their project to tackle the issue of food miles, they have created a cookbook with some delicious local recipes. Lastly, Transition Year Students in the Youth for Sustainable Development class have entered a project which involves planting an orchard on the school campus to attract bees and pollinators.

Our Transition Year students, Lucy McCarthy, Grace Monaghan and Ellen Crowley did a project on waste called “Why Art Thou So Wasteful”, they gathered English Textbooks from T.Y. students and sold them to second year students to reuse books rather than the second years buying the books new. Aisling Webb, Grace Plunkett, Molly Riese Collins and Marta Liompart did their project on the issue of fast fashion and organised a swap shop for first year students. Heather Fahey, Charlotte Browne, Iseabeal O’Toole and Janis Gomez Navarro entered a project called “Eat Green” which involved planted their own vegetables and did workshops with first year students to teach them how to grow their own vegetables. Oisin Joyce and Maya Birkner completed a project on plastic waste. Lastly, Danielle Lyons and Samantha Barrett’s project tackled the issue of disposable masks and their impact on the environment. One of the actions they took involved making their own reusable masks.

We are extremely proud of their hard work and wish them the very best of luck in the competition. It is amazing to see young people so concerned about the environment and taking action to make a difference.