BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition
St. Mary’s Secondary School was represented by two projects in the 60th years of the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition. The projects were selected with another 548 out of 2,042 entered by over 4,166 students from 343 schools around Ireland.
Three 2nd year students, Ashton Vuma, Liam Oakley and Darragh Redfern presented their project “An investigation into how the changes in duration of school lunchtimes affects students activity levels between 9 o’clock and 4 o clock”. The boys surveyed over 1,500 participants, collected their data and analysed it. The boys identified that over the past 3 decades the duration of lunchtimes have been shortening. They found that activity levels are lower among students in schools which have shorter lunch breaks. They found that 75% of students that do physical activity at lunchtimes notice that their concentration levels are better in afternoon classes. Their judge, Professor Micheal Moyna of D.C.U. praised the boys for their project and was very interested in their results.
Alison Ryan and Molly Browne from 2nd year also presented their findings from their project titled “The enablers and barriers to breastfeeding mothers returning to competitive camogie”. The girls found that having family support close by and a baby who is willing to accept expressed breastmilk, were two of the greatest enablers for breastfeeding women returning to sport. They also found that mothers appreciated initiatives such as “caman n’ chats” for getting them back to the sport. The judges and members of the public were very interested and happy to see the topic of getting mothers back to sport and breastfeeding being investigated.
The students enjoyed their four days in the RDS and would encourage others to investigate their ideas for next year’s BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition. They would like to thank Mr. Cusack, Ms Hannrick and all at St. Mary’s Secondary School for their support.
Basketball Match Report by Ailín kennedy (TY student)
Our basketball team travelled to Coláiste an Chrapobhín in Fermoy, County Cork last Thursday to play them in the Munster semi final. It was a tough start to the game with St. Mary’s down two at the end of the first quarter however this does not reflect their performance with only nine shots being scored in the first quarter.
Going into the second quarter the team fought to maintain a strong performance against a difficult opposition with Harry Ryan scoring two baskets along with Oisin Kennedy and Nathan Ebo, unfortunately they finished the first half behind Coláiste who had a team full of strong shooters.
Newport brought on a new sense of enthusiasm into the second half and performed to the top of their ability to prevent colaiste from scoring for the first six or so minutes of the third quarter with Kevin Fitzpatrick scoring a beautiful three pointer. A fantastic block from James O’Toole gave the team a renewed spirit with Liam lynch scoring two fast break baskets to keep Newport in the game. Tensions were high going into the last eight minutes of the game with Newport only down by two points. Lucas starts the quarter with a three pointer followed by scores from Oisin Kennedy and Harry Ryan. With forty seconds left in the game we needed a three pointer to get a draw for extra time but luck was not on our side and the game ended Coláiste 45 to Newport 42 . An unlucky loss for the team but an excellent display of skill and talent throughout the game.
Maths Quiz
St Mary’s Newport brought sixteen students from TY and 3rd year to Scoil pol Kilfinane where they had a very successful day at the Junior Maths problem solver competition. Out of 31 teams they had one team finish in the top five and another team finish in the top ten. Well done to all involved and thanks to Scoil pol for hosting the event.
Senior Hurling Munster Final
On Friday the 19th of January St Mary’s senior hurlers played against Mungret Community College in the Munster Senior Final in UL North Campus. There was a fantastic display of hurling from both sides. A tight game with a half time score of 3:05 – 2:07 to St Mary’s. Mungret came back fighting hard in the second half, but a fantastic display of hurling from St Mary’s saw them to victory with a full time score of 3:15 to 3:13. Congratulations to the team of players, student helpers and the management team, Mr. Minogue and Mr. Kelly.
There was a great turn out of support from teachers, parents and students.
St Mary’s will now go on to represent Munster in the All Ireland Series. The weekend of the 2nd of March they will face the Leinster Champions.