8 minute read
ACADEMIC LIFE
THE ACADEMY
The Clongowes Academy was set up by Fr Hilary Lawton, Prefect of Studies, back in the 1950s as a modern-day version of Plato’s Academy from Ancient Greece. It follows a strictly academic model where each member must present a scholarly paper of some 40 minutes to his peers, who then pose questions about his research. Each paper is a culmination of the members’ exhaustive research into and analysis of their chosen topic. The Academy gives its members a chance to become experienced in the research process, public speaking and fielding questions from their audience.
Fr Michael Sheil SJ is the Academy’s Moderator and is a former member of the Academy, having delivered a paper on Norman Castles during his Poetry year. Each session is followed by questions, refreshments and the opportunity for lively discussion on the paper just delivered.
This year’s Academy presentations were an interesting mix of topics delivered by boys from Poetry and Rhetoric. Well done to all who took part and presented their research so well.
BT YOUNG SCIENTIST
Well done to Tom Groome (Grammar) who took part in the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition this year. Tom’s project, Canine Colour Psychology investigated dogs’ colour preference and if it is affected by the time of day. Tom’s project was an entrant in the Intermediate section of the Biological and Ecological Science Section. Toby Griffin The Military/Political Genius of Bonaparte James Wyse Robert Mugabe - Freedom’s Dictator in Zimbabwe Joey Kennedy Centenary of Irish Independence – 100 years on Benoit Clarke The Flame of the French resistance in WW2 Georóid Ryan Famine:Bengal & Ireland Compared Henry McCallum A Northern Identity Crisis – a view from a mixed up Ulsterman Eoin Brady Ghosts of Castle Browne – Story of Clongowes Fiachra Lambe Irish Place Names – Do you know where you’re from ? Toby O’Donnell Making Holy War – a History of the Crusades Harry McDermott What makes a Serial Killer ? Hugh Hanly Untold Stories of WWII Andrew Percival Are Social Media Ruining Society ?
CERTIFICATES OF COMMENDATION
Congratulations to our Elements boys who were awarded 35 Certificates of Commendation. The boys were commended for nominations to the Year Council and Student Council, for improvement in academics and diligences, teacher nominated commendations in Science, Religion, Maths, Performance, French, History, SPHE and EAL and participation commendations for rugby and athletics and being men for others.
EUROPEAN OLYMPIAD OF EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCES
Well done to Sebastian, Eoin, Philip and Jack who competed in the Irish round of the European Olympiad of Experimental Sciences.
COMÓRTAS GAEL LINN
Congratulations to the team of students from across several Year Groups who took 2nd place in the recent Gael Linn Irish Podcast competition. The team of students comprised Poetry students James Keenan and Peter McGuinness, Rudiments, Tim Boyle, Jack Coghlan, and Peter Gibbons and Rhetoric student George McLoughlin. Working with the support of Miss Hickson, the boys entered their podcast, “Scéalta Mara ó Chorca” (Marine Stories from Chorca Dhuibhe, West Kerry), in the category designated for students who do not attend all-Irish schools (gaelscoileanna).
Congratulations to Harry Browne, Eoin O’Regan, Ciarán Ryan (Rhetoric) and Colin Simon Fellowes (Poetry) who competed in the Irish Maths Teachers Association National Team Maths Competition where their performance was highly commended.
SCIFEST@CLONGOWES
The SciFest@School programme gives secondary schools the opportunity to host their own in-house SciFest STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) fairs. Our Elements students took part in our Annual SciFest Fair showing their projects to a panel of 12 judges who interviewed each student on their scientific research.
The projects included a diverse range of subjects including: Does time really fly when you’re having fun, the effectiveness of dishwasher tablets versus the manufacturer’s claim, does the colour of a drink affect its taste and lots more!
Well done to all the boys for their hard work and enthusiasm. Our thanks to the judging panel and Ms Nolan for organising.
Commended Projects
Daniel Harnett Joshua Grant Ross Harte Nic Hunter Bruno Coll Fionn Doyle Raphael Marini Portugal Harry Reams Khisor Sivam Robin Ryan
Eirgrid Industry Prize for and Investigation into Renewable Energies
Brian Connolly
AbbVie Industry Prizes for Innovation
Hugo Blessing Teddy Crowley Martin Naughton
Overall Runner Up Scifest@ Clongowes
Fionn Lysaght
Students Choice Award (as selected by the School Captain on behalf of the students)
Kye Lacey
Joint Overall Winners (as selected by the Scifest@ Clongowes Judging Panel)
Brian Mc Carthy Finnian Browne
STEAM CERTIFICATION
Clongowes has been certified a ‘STEAM school’ by Make Create Innovate. Grammar students undertook a variety of assignments where they explored electronics, coding, physics and their artistic capabilities. Students made robots, LED christmas cards and invented a board game themed around ‘Climate Change’ where a ‘makey makey’ was used in conjunction with Scratch to electronically keep the score of the players. The programme was run as part of our Junior Cycle science course where it links to many of the learning outcomes.
MATHS MODELLING
This year’s Maths Modelling Programme launch was enthusiastically supported by boys from Syntax and Poetry. We once again welcomed Prof. James Gleeson, from the University of Limerick Mathematics Applications Consortium for Science and Industry, who gave the boys an overview of this year’s challenges and insights into his experience as a member of the epidemiological modelling advisory group during the Covid pandemic. Three diverse and interesting modelling challenges were set for the boys this year in the areas of sports analytics,e-commerce and CAO points requirements. The boys travelled to the University of Limerick at the end of the school year to present their projects. Well done to all the boys involved! Our thanks to Prof. Gleeson for his ongoing support of the programme and to our own Mr O’Hara for spearheading maths modelling in the school.
SCIFEST@DCU
Three students qualified to participate at Scifest@DCU in May. Elements students Brian Connolly, Daniel Harnett, Eddie McCarthy and Poetry student Mike Chen. Mike took the Accenture Maths in Science Award while Brian took the Bex Institute Business Excellence Institute Award. A fantastic achievement!
BEBRAS CHALLENGE – FIRST PLACE!
The Challenge, organised by the Irish Computer Society and Maynooth University, involves a series of computational thinking problems against the clock. Well done to Sean Hallissey (Poetry) who finished 1st place in the Senior section.
IRISH MATHS OLYMPIAD
Well done to Seán Hallissey and Colin Simon Fellowes who placed 15th and 21st in the Irish Maths Olympiad National Final on 7th May!
ECONOMICS OLYMPIAD WINNER!
Tiernan O’Doherty rounded off his Poetry year by winning the Irish Economics Olympiad! Tiernan will now represent Ireland at the International Olympiad. Well done also to Finn McGarry, Jack Jankovich Besan, Harry Thompson, Sean O’Chan and Marcus Lyons who reached the final!
SCIENCE SUCCESS!
The Science Department with Mr Lumb acknowledged the achievement of our students in both SciFest 2021 regional finals and the Royal Society of Chemistry Analyst competition. Well done to our prize winners!
OVERALL WINNER ELEMENTS
TIM BOYLE Do Auditory Illusions Affect Video Perception?
OVERALL WINNER SYNTAX
JAMES KEENAN Homosexuality in Animals.
Clongowes students retained the National and Regional Senior Applied Maths Competition titles this year. The boys, led by Mr O’Hara came 1st and 2nd nationally and had the top Fifth Year team in the Regional Final. Some twenty seven students from Higher Line participated with students from all over Ireland - competing in teams of 3 to solve problems against the clock.
NATIONAL FIRST PLACE TEAM
Nicholas Moschenross, Cian Hickey and Sean Hallissey
NATIONAL SECOND PLACE TEAM
Harry Browne, Ciaran Ryan and Colin Simon Fellowes
TOP FIFTH YEAR TEAM
Jack Reed, Patrick Smyth, Tiernan O’Doherty.
This is a huge achievement for all the boys and Mr O’Hara - congratulations and well done to all involved!
