The College Press —————Thursday, 2nd June 2016 Issue 5 Volume 11————
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Olivia Daly
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Editorial Well, we made it. It took a hell of a lot of effort to get here but we did, we're at Summer. For some it's the the end of their first year for others it's the ending of a chapter of their lives and for some it means a three month break before they come back and start the show all over again. For once I'm going to try my best to be sincere and say that this year has certainly been something. Each year just seems to get quicker and quicker but I can safely say that this year has been a fun one. Between all the goings on of school life to whole host of events that we've seen go on this year, it's been a memorable one. There's a lot of things I'd like to say here but as I've only got limited space I'll need to keep it brief. So all I'll say is, a huge thank you to everybody who's contributed to working on the college press and making it what it is (Yes, even you Mr. Doyle). And a huge thank you to You, the beautiful people of Newbridge College for picking up a copy of our magazine each term to see what's been going on. So whether you're planning to jet off somewhere to get a good sun tan, doing the last bit of study for your leaving or junior certs or you're in TY and you're bracing yourself to do some actual work next year, I hope that this final issue of the school year will give you all the news you could possibly want and/ or need. Good night and good luck. Your faithful editor, 3
Special. Incredibly rewarding. Unforgettable. Some words that were used to describe this incredible experience. We laughed, we cried and we made some dear memories that we will hold forever in our hearts. On Easter Sunday, 12 students along with Fr. Luuk and Mr. Newsome travelled to Lourdes under the leadership of Vivienne Connolly, a past pupil from Newbridge College. We had no idea what to expect, and boarded the plane full of nervous anticipation. We departed for this intriguing destination to volunteer with children and young adults with special and additional needs, yet at the time we didn't realise how much we ourselves would take from this experience. We had spent many months planning different fundraising events such as a table quiz, coffee mornings, church gate collections and clothing and book sales, but I don't think that it had really seemed real until we actually arrived in Lourdes, and felt that amazing hope and vibrancy that radiates from every corner. And in Lourdes, everything is different. Every mass is a celebration, full of singing and dancing and laughter. The simplest things made those children so, so happy, and it brought joy to all of our hearts knowing that they were having the experience of a lifetime. Most of the children that travel with the Irish Pilgrimage Trust have mild to severe mental and physical disabilities, and have never been away from home or their parents for a day, not to mind a week. This holiday helps them to develop their own personalities, interact with people their own age, and relax in an environment where they are seen as people first, people with hopes and fears and dreams of their own. The environment in Lourdes allows everyone to be themselves without holding anything back. We formed strong bonds with these kids and the other carers within the first few hours of the trip, and as the week went on we began to dread having to leave and retreat back to normality. The beautiful mountains of Gavarnie, the rushing waters of the Gave de Pau river, vast cathedrals and the magical Grotto of Massabielle all melted together to further enhance thisincredible journey. After Lourdes, nothing will ever be the same, we will never be the same. And we couldn't be happier having being given this unique opportunity.
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An Interview with our 6th Years Q 1. How have you found your sixth year at the college? Amy: “This year has gone by so fast, I hard to believe we are nearly finished.” Cara: “I’m the same as Amy, don’t know where the year has gone! It’s been tough, but a lot of fun at the same time.” Q 2. What has been your favourite part of this year? Amy: “Ahh this is a tough one, my favourite part of this year was probably going to Belfast on the history trip and continuing to become friends with different people in my year and getting to know them better.” Cara: “Definitely the history trip to Belfast! Everyone has also been pretty helpful towards one another this year because we’re all in the same boat, which has been really nice.”
Q 3. What was it like having a first year buddy? Amy: “I loved my buddy Lara she was always smiling when I passed her in the corridors and I know she’ll enjoy the rest of her time here.” Cara: “It was a lot of fun, great to be able to help someone in the same position that we were in 6 years ago!”
Q 4. What're your favourite memories from being at the college? Amy: “My favourite memory is the music trip to London or the TY trip to Uisce.” Cara: “I’ve always loved being part of the school musicals, they were always so much fun! Probably the ski-trip as well, I’ll never forget Ornaith Mahons rendition of Danc-
ing Queen…”
Q 5. How do you think you've changed since you first came in in first year? Amy: “I’m more relaxed and probably more confident and sociable maybe.” Cara: “I like to think I’ve changed a lot since first year haha…hopefully a bit more ma5
ture, I’m not as shy either and I’ve made a lot more friends!”
Q 6. Who’s been your favourite teacher while at the college and why? Amy: “Oh I really like them all argh, I think if I had to pick I’d say Mrs. Ryan my Irish teacher and Mrs. O’Brien my music teacher just because I really like those classes and they are both so enthusiastic and supportive.” Cara: “That’s such a tough one, I have so many!! If I had to narrow it down though it would probably be Mr. Sherlock and Ms. O’Keefe, they’re great teachers, always so helpful, I love both of their subjects too so that probably helps!!”
Q7. What are you going to miss most about the college? Amy: “I think I’ll miss the little things, like lunch with your friends and the atmosphere between the students and teachers, everyone was so encouraging, it was really nice to have.” Cara: “Definitely the people in my year, they’re all so friendly and we’ve all had so much fun together over the years. I’ll also really miss sitting around talking with my friends every day, it’ll be weird not seeing them all the time next year L”
Q8. What are you hoping to do after you finish school? Amy: “I’d like to do primary school teaching or a degree in Irish and music. Cara: “I’m planning on doing law in either UCD or DCU, whichever one I get!”
Q9. Do you have any advice for upcoming 5th years/TYs? Amy: “Just stick with it, it’s only for one year and it’s all working towards something you want to do, listen to your teachers and try not to leave things to the last minute, just keep going.” Cara: “Enjoy it while it lasts, goes by faster than you can imagine. I’d also say to try and talk to everyone in your year, it’ll just make the next few years more fun! Study wise, just try and keep yourself motivated the whole way through, it’ll pay off so much!”
Q10. What was your experience of being Captain? Cara: “I loved every minute of being captain! Quite daunting at the beginning as I didn’t know what to expect but being able to help out with different things was great especially the 1916 proclamation day!! Everyone was always so so friendly to me throughout the year as well, it’s been such a great experience, I’ll never forget it!” 6
Interviews with sixth years
Laura Hannon We compared this interview with an interview Laura did when she was in first year. From reading these interviews, it shows how fast your years in Newbridge College fly by, so make them count. 1st Year Interview with Laura Hannon: How are you finding Newbridge College?: Excellent What’s your favourite subject? PE Who is your favourite teacher? Ms. Scully-English Have you gotten lost yet? Yes- 5 times! Have you made many friends? No :-( What’s your favourite food in the ref? Chicken roll! 6th Year Interview: Interviewed by Gemma Cox What is your favourite subject? Economics and Business What was your favourite year in Newbridge College and why? Probably this year, we had a good year with hockey and everyone gets along a lot better now. Have you made many life-long friends in Newbridge College? Yeah, hopefully most of us will stay in touch once we graduate but I'm sure I'm stuck with a few of them forever. What do you feel has been your biggest achievement in Newbridge College? Beating the rugby team in the cian/colm cup twice in a row felt pretty great and I suppose reaching the Dominican cup final this year was a big one. What do you want to do after secondary school? Sleep. But from there hopefully law and business or economics, we'll have to see. What advice would you give to the incoming first years? I’d say try everything, get involved in as much as you can and make as many friends in first year as possible. Definitely enjoy every second of your time here because it will be over in a flash. What will you miss most about Newbridge College? There’s a lot I’ll miss especially playing hockey for the school, the mochas in the ref and my 8 favorite teachers, but I’ll probably miss the people in my year the most.
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Iveagh Scholars Programme 2016 By Olivia Daly The Iveagh Scholars Programme is a week long experience run by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for TY students from the Republic and fifth year students from Northern Ireland. Thirty students are selected each year through an essay/video competition and one entry is permitted from each school on the island of Ireland. The theme for 2016 was “Honouring our past and imagining our future”. For my entry I decided to write an essay in the form of a letter which was addressed to the future generations of Ireland. In this letter I spoke about Ireland’s rich history as well as the events that are being commemorated in 2016 such as the centenaries of the 1916 Rising and the battle of the Somme and the 60 th anniversary of Ireland joining the UN. I then discussed how we can learn from our past in order to build an even brighter future. It was a huge honour both to be selected to represent Newbridge College in the competition and to be accepted into the programme. The programme took place from the 4th to the 8th of April in the Department of Foreign Affairs offices in Iveagh House on St. Stephen’s Green. The week was packed full of exciting activities, talks and trips. Most of the activities and talks were held in the ballroom where JFK and his wife Jackie were hosted during their state visit to Ireland in 1963. We started off the week with a visit to the printing rooms of the Irish passport office, a Protocol exercise and a tour of Iveagh House and gardens on Monday. On Tuesday morning we met the Secretary General of the Department who invited us into his office, took part in a Consular Exercise and organised a mock press conference. Then some participants, including myself, were interviewed by RTE and appeared on the news that evening. In the afternoon we attended talks by speakers from the UN and the Defence Forces. After that we were put into groups for a trade exercise and had to make a sales pitch to the heads of Glanbia, the Kerry Group, Fáilte Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Tourism Board. On Wednesday we went on a trip to Belfast which was the highlight of the week for me. First we visited the Museum of Orange Heritage and attended a talk held by members of the Orange Order. I thought this was very interesting as it opened my eyes to how we can understand and find common ground with people who have completely different points of view to us which is what diplomacy is all about. We were then invited for lunch at the Irish Consulate and received a talk from the First Secretary there about how our relationship with Northern Ireland has 10
changed and how we have achieved and are maintaining peace on our island. After that we visited the Cupar Way Peace Wall and the murals there. We then went on to visit an inter-faith community centre run by the 174 Trust and talked about healing sectarian divisions and our shared identity as Irish people. The students from Northern Ireland brought a very different dynamic to the trip as the issues we discussed on that day were very relevant to their everyday lives. I learned so much on that day about the importance of tolerance and seeing the positive change that has been achieved on our island in the past few decades made me really proud to be Irish. On Thursday morning we visited the headquarters of Irish Aid and learned about the different aid projects run by the Irish government in developing countries such as Malawi and Kenya. We also met Charlie Flanagan, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and were allowed to go into his office and have a look around. After lunch we were divided into five groups and each group was sent to a different foreign embassy in Dublin. My group visited the Brazilian embassy and received a talk from the Brazilian ambassador to Ireland. I thought this was a great experience because before then I didn’t know very much about Brazil as a country or their diplomatic links with Ireland. On our final morning we were divided into different councils for a model UN exercise and had to represent the country whose embassy we had visited on those councils. I was put on the Human Rights Council and we worked on the Universal Periodic Review. Representing Brazil on this council was challenging but very enjoyable. When our last activity was over we attended a reception hosted by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Secretary General where we were awarded certificates of participation and each received gift bags. These included an individual letter written by a diplomat telling us the story of how they got into their career and giving us advice should we choose a career in diplomacy. My letter was from a lady called Isobel O’Connor who is currently serving as the Deputy Consul General of the Consulate General of Ireland to Hong Kong and Macau. During my week as an Iveagh Scholar I learned a huge amount about diplomacy and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade that I never knew before. I also developed my public speaking, team work and problem solving skills and met lots of lovely, like-minded people that I will definitely keep in touch with. I am now seriously considering studying International Relations at university. I could not recommend the programme enough to future TYs who are interested.
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2 RTE interviewed participants in the programme
1Receiving my certificate of participation
3 At the Cupar Way Peace Wall in Belfast
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4 With Minister Charlie Flanagan 12