The College Press —————Friday, 17th February 2017 Issue 3 Volume 12————
The Lurve Edition
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College Press Editorial Team Editors: Deryn Mooney & Eve Murphy Student Contributors: Caroline Kane Urara Kodama Maebh Stebbing Rachel Thornton Special Thanks To: Mr. Doyle, Mr. Brew, Ms. Holmes & Ms. McCluskey
Editorial Happy Valentines to all our lovely readers! Valentines is a time where we celebrate those we cherish and feel the lurvvv‌ Have you got a special someone? Or are you still searching? These are the questions you must ask on this red heart and chocolate filled occasion! One thing is for certain boys; be sure to hold the door *ho da door* *hodor* to impress your lady loves!! Our latest article focuses on what the schools getting up to, our Junior Rugby Teams Victory and of course things to get you in the loving mood! Deryn & Eve
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A Rant About Valentine’s Day Ah yes. Valentine’s Day. That one magical night a year where it’s totally acceptable for people to third-wheel their couple friends. Valentine’s Day is possibly the worst day that the calendar has ever regurgitated. If not, then it’s a close second to the paranoiainducing and utterly unnecessary April Fool’s Day. Valentine’s Day is actually so terrible, that you don’t even remember it until the last minute. Valentine’s Day is like the Bleep Test. You go about your business one day, feeling good about yourself until you realise; “Wait a minute...is it Valentine’s Day today?” And now that you’ve recognised the truth, everybody else is going to subconsciously rub it in your face that they remembered that it was on today and they all seem to be so much better at it than you are. And then you spend the rest of the day sweaty and tired, while the over-achieving ones who are giving chocolates and flowers to their significant others are like; “Oh my god, this is so much fun!” Those people are lying to themselves. No normal human thinks the Bleep Test is fun. Just like no normal human thinks Valentine’s Day is fun. Now, you can call me what you want. I am not ranting about Valentine’s Day because I am single or I don’t like romance or I am a bitter old maid. I enjoy being single, I enjoy being romantic and I enjoy being a bitter old maid. I am writing a rant because this is what real journalism is nowadays. People using their opinion to skew the news. So this article is perfectly acceptable as far as modern society is concerned. #fakenews. So yeah. I don’t particularly love the grotesque cashcow that is ironically dedicated to love. And the people who try to be patronising by saying; “Oh, Valentine’s Day isn’t about money, it’s been celebrated for years” are dead inside. Not every holiday has to be celebrated, there’s no need to persecute people for just saying they don’t like it. Did you know that today (17th February) is International Cabbage Day? That’s a thing now. What are you doing to celebrate International Cabbage Day? Hmm? Do you have any plans? Who are you going to eat cabbage with? You have nobody? That’s a shame. Does that mean you don’t like cabbage and you’ll probably never eat cabbage again? Valentine’s Day is that five year old cousin of yours, constantly whinging to see the games on your phone. You have to let them go on your phone. You kind of just have to celebrate it or everybody else thinks that you’re a cold, unfeeling sociopath. So here I am. I’m just a girl, standing in front of a holiday, telling it to shut the hell up. By Rachel Thornton 3
My Soroptimist Experience In November of last year, I participated in the first round of my local all-girls Soroptimist Competition in Clane. I first heard about Soroptimist in the notices one morning that it was a speech writing competition and as I am interested in possibly pursuing English at third level, I thought it would be a great opportunity to put my skills into practice. Firstly I had to write a one page speech on a chosen topic (mine being the empowerment of women) to deliver to Mr. Doyle and Ms. Kelly, as well as being able to do an “impromptu”, where I had to give a completely unprepared speech on an unknown topic for two minutes. I somehow managed to impress my teachers with my speech as Rachel Thornton and I were chosen to represent the school in the local round in Clane. The local round was a most enjoyable experience, we had to stand behind a podium and give our speeches to a small group of girls, their parents, teachers, and a respective panel of judges. I was one of the last speakers to deliver my speech, and though this was daunting I found my nerves had somewhat fizzled away by that stage. After a long tea break of the judges deciding who would speak at the next round, I was chosen as one of the two finalists to go through to the regional competition in Maynooth. My fellow Newbridge College competitor also did very well as she came 3rd in this round. On January 21st, my parents and I travelled up to the Glenroyal hotel in Maynooth for the next round, where I met my teachers and the competitors from the other regions. I had gotten some public speaking practise in between that time period as I was invited to the “Toast Masters” in Clane over the Christmas break, to get their advice and constructive criticism of my speech. I found this extremely helpful in both the presentation of my speech and the actual content of it. Both the delivery and my impromptu went well the day of the competition as I managed to slip in a joke which broke the tension of my nervousness and once again I was fortunately chosen to go to the national finals in Castlebar in March. Overall I am extremely thankful to Ms. Kelly for introducing me to the Soroptimist as it has greatly improved my communication, writing and presenting skills, and I cannot wait for the next round!
Caroline Kane
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It’s almost Valentine’s Day and as we see couples making plans and buying overly priced heart shaped chocolates for each other, one particular group of students will venture out into Tallaght to visit a place where the force of attraction is as strong as ever this Valentine’s Day. A place where couples are formed on a daily basis. That’s right, you guessed it. Loctite Super Glue Factory. The 5th year Chemistry class will spend a day here at this VERY Romantic location, getting to see their classroom experiments being applied to real life. It will, without a doubt be an amazing bonding experience! Hopefully, these 14 students will return, with a bond stronger than that of Hydrogen and Oxygen’s and will be united in their efforts to postpone yet another exam for the following day.
Urara Kodama
Well done to David Kennedy - who left last year and Aoife Fitzgerald in TY who have had their artwork displayed in the Specialist Craft Catalogue 2017. The artworks were examinations pieces and both were lino prints. They demonstrate exceptional standard in this craft.
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Pun Page
( The Lurvvvvv edition)
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Victory for Juniors in League Final!! Monday 16th January 2017 Our Juniors made the trip to Donnybrook on Monday the 16th of January, to face Kilkenny College in the final of this year's Leinster Schools Junior League. With both teams boasting an unbeaten record going into the final, it was always going to be a hotly contested game and so it proved to be. The final score was 2220. This soon followed by a subsequent win of 21-0 against St. Mary’s on Friday the 10th of February, meaning our Junior team have now reached the quarter final in the Junior Cup. Well done to our Junior team, coaches and mentors. Also we would like to say a huge well done to our senior rugby team who played with guts and determination recently against St. Marys.
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Dear Sensitive Sally, I really like this girl in my year, we are in some of the same classes and we get along really well. I’ve felt like this for a while but haven’t said this to anyone. However, my friend just told me that he really likes her too. I don’t know what to do because he doesn’t know her as well as I do and I feel like I should get first dibs. But I don’t want to lose my friendship with my friend. What should I do? Hi sweetie, First of all thank you for writing to me with your problem, its always good to ask another for advice before you make decisions which could affect a friendship. Okay so liking the same girl as your friend can be a tricky situation, you should consider certain factors , like if you think this girl might like you back? Of course you don’t want to lose your friendship so my best advice would be to talk to your friend privately, tell him you also have feelings for this girl too, that you’re not sure how to handle the situation and ask him what he thinks. Discuss what would happen if one of you developed your friendship with the girl into something more, what would the other persons feelings be? Decide between you both whether a girl is going to get in between you and if so, then is really worth a strong friendship? Sincerely, Sensitive Sally x
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Top 12 Valentines Movies you Must Watch 1.
10 things I hate about you
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The Prince and me
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The proposal
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Bridget Jones Diary
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Maid of Honour
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John Tucker Must Die
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The Wedding Planner
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Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging
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Dirty Dancing
10. Some Like it Hot 11. Valentine’s Day 12. What Happens in Vegas
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Winners of the Library Valentine’s Limerick Competition! I can never stop looking at thee, I will always think of you not me, When you are around, My heart starts to pound, You will always be my cup of tea.
By Ethan Travers 1V
There once was a girl who was bright, And was always extremely polite, But then turned fifteen, Met a guy called “Dean” And never came home until midnight.
By Emma Evers 1X
Love is something we can’t disguise. Love is a word we won’t despise. When I look into your eyes, You put my tongue in ties. Love is something we can’t disguise.
By Clara Coonan 1V 10
On the 13th of February, I was one of about 20 girls from Transition year and fifth year who set off to the iWish exhibition in the RDS. This exhibition is an event organised to encourage girls to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths). We arrived at 9:40 and were greeted by cheery representatives handing out free gifts which were much appreciated after sitting in traffic for nearly 2 hours! We were ushered into a large hall with a stage and rows upon rows of seats which were slowly filling up with enthusiastic teenage girls. Author and comedian, Colm O’Regan bounded on stage and kicked off the day. After being spoken to by the Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin, we were introduced to Gillian Keating, one of the founding members of iWish. She was an inspiring woman to say the least, and was extremely encouraging about girls going into STEM. The general manager of Dell EMC, Aisling Keegan, then gave us a presentation on how she came to be one of the top people in such a huge international brand. My favourite talk, was Edith Blennerhasset’s. She is an engineer for Arup. Her talk consisted of the works she has assisted with, such as the Millennium Bridge, and ones she is in the process of working on, such as the new children’s hospital in St James’ in Dublin. Although I have always known that I am most likely going to pursue a career in maths or physics, I never considered engineering, a fusion of the two, until iWish. After the talks were finished, we went into the exhibition hall where there were approximately two dozen companies with stands and representatives. We were given roughly an hour to walk around and talk to these people. We were given leaflets and information booklets (not to mention the free sweets!) and all of our questions were answered. Without a doubt, I would recommend any girls interested in STEM subjects to sign up to go to the iWish exhibition when in 4th and 5th year. It is an amazing opportunity and it really widened my knowledge of possible career options in STEM. Careers in STEM used to be, and sometimes still are, considered a “boys field”. iWish helped me to realise that this is not true. Companies are calling out for women to join their teams. We are no less talented nor intelligent than boys and we should never avoid something we love just because society tells us that we can’t do it because of our gender. If you are inter11
ested in STEM subjects but are unsure about if it’s right for you, iWish is the perfect way to gather information and gain confidence. For those of you that know that STEM is the area for you, this exhibition can really help you to widen your views on the area and find out about the endless options that await you. By Maebh Stebbing
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What well known phrases does each of these word images represent?
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