Week Beginning March 17th:
WORK EXPERIENCE
For the first week I went to Hogan’s Pharmacy in Mount Oval and for the second I went to the Mercy Hospital. I enjoyed the pharmacy but at times found it quite repetitive as there wasn’t a lot for me to do but I got to see all the antibiotics and medicines being made up which I found very interesting. I did a lot of paperwork such as sorting out invoices and credit notes and I also helped price products and re stock shelves. For my second week I went to the Mercy Hospital which I thoroughly enjoyed. I went to different departments each day and found them all interesting. I went to the radiography department for the first day which I really enjoyed. Then the second day I followed the dietician around the hospital too see what she had to do on a typical day. Then I went to the intensive care unit the next day which was sad but also worthwhile to see how they treat the patients. I also followed the physiotherapist around as he helped people learn to walk again which I really enjoyed. For the last day I went to the occupational therapy department. Overall I found these two weeks very interesting and I thought it was very worthwhile.
On 3rd February all Transition Year students in St. Angela’s began their work experience. Work experience lasted two weeks and students were able to go to two placements of their choice or spend the fortnight in one workplace. I spent my first week of work experience with the photonics group of Tyndall Institute. I began at 9am every morning and finished at 5.30pm. After the first few days I was exhausted as I was used to finishing at 3.50pm every day. I was given my own Tyndall swipe card and email for the week. In Tyndall, I learned an abundance of information on lasers and micro devices. I spent a lot of time in the packaging labs and I even witnessed a device being packaged for Intel. The researchers and were all very friendly and I enjoyed having lunch with them every day, although I didn’t have a clue about what scientific discoveries they were talking about half the time!
My second week of work experience was spent in Mayfield Sports Complex as I am very interested in sport and fitness. Here I did a lot of cleaning and hovering. I was able to take part in fitness classes such as TRX, aquarobics and kettle bells. I had to de-scum the pool a couple of times and I was rewarded with time in the sauna. I also got trained into reception and I was given the responsibility of working at the front desk by myself. I loved dealing with customers and answering the phone and I felt the job was suited to me.
For the two weeks from the 3rd-20th of February, the whole year went on work experience. I spent my first week in UCC radio station, and my second week was spent in the Glucksman, also in UCC. In the radio station, I learnt about editing and software and sound engineering, as well as taking part in the more practical things such as carrying out voxpops and getting to be on air. I enjoyed the technical side because I did not think much that aspect of radio before. In the Glucksman I was helping out and cleaning a lot more, as well as doing gallery checks every hour or so. As well as this I got to sit in on talks and I saw the exhibitions every day. I also got to take part in some drawing classes going on that week, as well as a paper mache class with small children. It was beneficial to have the combination of hands on work as well as learning about the art itself. Both weeks were valuable experiences that helped me to consider what I would like to do after school and motivated me to try and find a part-time job.
On 3rd February everyone in Transition Year began work experience for two weeks to places of their choice. For my first week I went to the Mercy Hospital with a consultant in Emergency Medicine. I spent my time there going around to different parts of the hospital with different doctors and seeing what was going on in them. I saw loads of things like a gall bladder being removed, people getting cameras down their lungs and MRI scans. I really enjoyed this and I now have a greater knowledge of what medicine would entail. For my second week I went to a French food shop and café. I spent most of my time there doing food preparation for lunches. At the start it was interesting but after a while it became very repetitive. I still enjoyed it though and was sad when it was over. It was really nice to get to do something so different from school and I feel it was an invaluable experience.
For my first two weeks I was in subway for my work experience. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot about the company and how to manage your time when working and make sure you get all of your tasks done, for example, I learnt that subway bake their bread fresh every few hours and how precise the baking is, I also learnt that all the food has to be fresh or you will get in trouble with management. I was working alongside the manager/owner, Avril, and my co-workers were Craig, Joanna, Luke and Christiana. I had to do a lot of different jobs ranging from making the subways to stocking the fridge to prep. My favourite job was working the till because I got to talk to the customers and it was an easy job.
On Thursday 16th January fourth years had Differential Aptitude Testing (DATs). DATs are used to help students see where their strengths lie when choosing subjects for Leaving Cert. We all went up to the Ambassador Hotel to begin the testing. We got a talk from Ms Gallagher about what the tests would be like and then we began. We were tested on language, numerical and spatial skills. They were timed so we had to work very quickly which was quite stressful. The tests went on for the first six classes. The tests are being corrected in Dublin and we will be getting our results back after midterm.
Drama Workshop.
On Wednesday the 15th of January 4C had a drama workshop. We talked about the different types of intelligences in preparation for out DATS test the next day. We did activities involving team skills such as positioning ourselves into letters and shapes in competition with the other team. We also did memory games and drama activities. In our opinion we thought this was helpful especially for the DATS test the next day.
Week beginning January 27th:
On the 27th of January we were sitting in religion class when Ms.Galvin told us about an incredible young man by the name of Donal Walsh from Kerry. We watched a documentary about his life and the legacy that he left behind him. He struggled with cancer from the age of 12 until he tragically died on May 12th 2013, Aged 16. He spoke out about suicide amongst teenagers and made a plea for it to stop. After this there were no suicides in Kerry for six months. He inspired our class to “live everyday as a gift and not a given right.” He started the Donal Walsh #LiveLife foundation in order to bring forward his causes of providing age appropriate teenage facilities in hospital and hospice centres as well as promoting his anti-suicide message. From 2009 he won garda achievement awards, bravery awards, fundraising medals, person of the year award, local hero award and the ORM spirit of humanity award.
“If I’m meant to be a symbol for people to appreciate life more in general then I’ll be happy to die if that’s what I’m dying for.”
Fundraising for Calcutta
As 8 girls in our year are going to Calcutta on the 13th of February with The Hope Foundation, they asked all first and fourth years to bring in small gifts to give to the kids in the homes in which they visit. The response was awesome! People bought in such varied things from shampoo to hair go-go’s. I love our year because they’re always so giving and wanting to make changes.
The Young Scientist
On Friday 10th January, all of TY travelled to Dublin to visit the Young Scientist exhibition. We left school at 7:45 and arrived at Dundrum Shopping Centre at 11. We were given an hour and a half to shop and get lunch. We were all really excited and looking forward to the day ahead! We didn’t have a lot of time in Dundrum so we spent our time rushing around! We left Dundrum at 12:30 and headed for the RDS. We arrived at the RDS, which was very busy with lots of other schools. At first, we walked to a circus tent, where a robot show was underway inside. This was not very interesting and we left early, to see the other projects. We saw schools from Cork taking part and we read some of their findings, which were fascinating. There were many different companies, such as Analog and EMC. We only had 1 hour around the exhibitions which was not enough time at all! We had to rush around and didn’t get to appreciate the diverse range of projects. All in all, we had a very enjoyable day.
Aptitude Testing
Week beginning January 6th:
The 4C Class tell us their highlights of Transition Year so far!