Colaiste Chiarain Hits New Heights

Coláiste Chiaráin have returned after Easter with a bang! Students were successful in many competitions covering areas such as Home Economics, STEM and Economics.

To begin, transition year students are delighted with their success at the National Vex Robotics competition. Students Ally Davis, Hannah Lucey, Rubab Kabir, Hassaan Shah, Liam Murphy, Caragh Ruddle, Erin Moore and Magda Nae, along with teachers Mr Conor Power and Mr Padraig McGarry received top prize “The Excellence Award” at the national finals. Teacher Mr. Conor Power said ‘This a great victory for the team and an example of STEM in action. The students must design, build and code their robots to complete unique challenges each year. Our new campus, due for completion later this year, will feature a state of the art STEM lab – a first for the region. This lab will support our activities in STEM in addition to Computer Science, which is part of our Leaving Certificate curriculum.’

Staying with STEM, students were also recognised for their efforts at Scifest. Mollie and Alex Healy Passas won the Limerick County Council Environment Award, Diana Nedelco won The Royal Society of Chemistry Award and Hannah Lucey won The Discover Space Award. A great achievement for the students and their teachers.

Coláiste Chiaráin swept the boards at the Young Economist of the Year Awards. Fifth year students Zoe McNamara and Reziana Muco won the Silver Award for their entry entitled “Flying Under the Radar”. Their project investigated Ireland’s Aircraft Leasing Industry and its contribution to the Irish Economy.

Sam O’Gara and Nathan Kenny won a Bronze Award for their project entitled “Is the Future Electric”. This project investigated the economic viability of the Electric Car Market in Ireland.

Ashleigh Boyd, Aine Dinn, Sophia O’Neill and Molly Ryan also won Bronze Awards for their project which was a Cost Benefit Analysis of the Alcohol Industry’s contribution to the Irish Economy.

Finally, 6th year students Diane Sheehy and Diana Mirza entered the competition again in 2019. The girls were successful in the Young Economist of the Year Awards in 2018 when they claimed the top 5th year award for their project “Austerity – Was it Worth it?”. Diane and Diana entered a fantastic project investigating a very topical issue. They analysed Ireland’s housing shortage in their project entitled “Is Ireland Doomed? The Housing Shortage Analysed”. Diane and Diana achieved a number of awards in the National Finals this year. They finished as runners up in the Central Bank Award and received specially commissioned silver medals from the Central Bank of Ireland. They were also runners up in the 6th Year category and they claimed 3rd overall in the competition this year. This is a fantastic achievement for the girls given that there were almost 1000 entries in this year’s competition. Diane and Diana have also won the opportunity to represent Ireland as part of a team in the Economics International Olympiad in St. Petersburg in Russia in July of this year.

Finally, transition year student Eimear Hickey reached the Senior Final of the Healthy Home Chef Competition 2019. There were over 700 entries from all over Ireland so this is a great achievement for Eimear and her Home Economics teacher Ms. Bernie Haugh.

Mr. Gerard O’Sullivan, Principal, added that “the recognition received by all students this week are a testament to the students and their dedicated teachers. The hard work certainly paid off and we look forward to continued success next year in our new campus. Congratulations to all involved.”

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