St. Brendan's Yearbook 2012 by Esther Behan

COLLEGE

P R I N C I P A L ’ S

A D D R E S S

A word from the

s we reach the beginning of a new school year, I think we can look back proudly at the achievements of the last twelve months. On the school front, we have completed our new changing room block which is a great addition to our sporting facilities. We have also just completed our new Learning Support Centre which is located in the old changing area in the school building. This facility complete with class-rooms, IT facilities and resource area will be of huge benefit to those students who receive learning support within the school. We have also added to our existing mainstream school facilities and equipment, and this process of renewal and replacement will continue into the new academic year. At this point, I would like to make special mention of our former 6th year students who are reading their first yearbook as past pupils of St. Brendan’s College. At this stage, these students will have already received their Leaving Certificate results and I am sure they have all done very well and are now looking forward to the next phase in their lives, whether it is starting the third level course of their choice, starting out in work, taking up an apprenticeship or taking time out to travel. Whatever path they take, I wish them, on behalf of the whole school community here at St. Brendan’s College, the very best of luck and success now and in the future. To our present pupils, I wish them all a very successful year and hope that 2012/2013 brings them success both in their studies and in all of their other pursuits. I would like to congratulate all of the students who represented St. Brendan’s during the 2011/2012 school year. It is a great honour to represent your school and I believe that all of these students have done so admirably, giving their best at all times. Thanks also to the many members of staff who gave up their own time to train and look after these activities. Special congratulations to: ■ The senior soccer team – Wicklow/Wexford Champions 2012; ■ The under-19 Gaelic football team – South Leinster Champions 2012; ■ The senior rugby team who reached the semi-finals of the Development Cup; ■ The under-15 soccer team – losing semi-finalists in the Wicklow/Wexford Cup; ■ The senior basketball team – runners-up in the Dublin Championships; ■ Sean Tobin, 4th year – All-Ireland under-18 Recurve Archery Champion 2012; and ■ Hugh Douglas, 6th year - FAI International Schools Player of the Year 2012. All of these students have brought great honour upon themselves and the school through their commitment and hard work. Regarding the new school building, unfortunately we were not included in the recent 5-year building programme announced by the Department of Education and Skills. The reason given for this was that priority was given to those areas where there was a shortage of school places in existing schools or areas where there was no school at all to meet increased population growth. As there are sufficient school places in the Bray area, our project was not deemed a priority. However, we are still in the process and will continue to work with our design team to complete our next stage which is the preparation of the tender documents. We will keep parents fully informed of news as we get it. I would like to thank the parents who work so hard on the Parents Association for all the help they have provided at school functions and other events. It is much appreciated. I would also like to pay tribute to our administrative and ancillary staff – Nieves, Joy, Muriel, Bridie and Roy – for all of their work behind the scenes making sure that the school can function properly. In conclusion, may I especially welcome our new first year students and wish them an enjoyable and rewarding time in St. Brendan’s College. I invite them to join with the existing students and the entire school community as we journey through the next academic year, guided at all times by the principles of our founder, Edmund Rice. JOHN TAYLOR 2012

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A word from the Deputy

elcome to the 2012 St. Brendan’s yearbook. I am sure you will agree that it is another excellent production. Well done and thank you to all who have contributed to it this year and especially to Ms. O’ Gorman who brought it all together!! Success has been unusually varied this year. James Malone (TY) qualified for the Maths Olympiad via his excellent Junior Cert results. He was later joined by Daryl Brierton(TY) and Daniel Michael (5th). Anton Rivas Renedo (1st) qualified for the First Year regional final. Well done and best of luck to you all in your endeavours. The school was also represented very admirably by Francis Aristosa, Tom Clancy, Owen McNaughton and Emmet O’ Sullivan at the 6th Year Maths Teachers Association Quiz. The Historians – Emmet O’Sullivan, Aaron Vaughan, Shaun Doyle and Owen McNaughton represented the school with panache at the 6th Year History Teachers Association Quiz. Mr. P. Murphy took his Leaving Certificate History class on a three day fieldtrip to Derry and Belfast to get a closer look at the effects of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Mr. J. Murphy has brought the TY boys on numerous walks and visits as part of the History and Heritage tour module. Venues have included Howth Head, Glasnevin Cemetery, 1916 Walking Tour of Dublin, IMMA and Bray Head to name just a few. There have also been English department visits to the theatre to see Macbeth; History cinema visits to see Irish army involvement in peacekeeping in the Congo and Geography trip to study the geology of Bray Head. I would like to thank Tom Molineux for leading this trip. On the sporting front there have been some very notable individual successes. Hugh Douglas (6th) has signed for UCD and is now playing regularly for them in the Premier division. Hugh has also played schools internationals and has been selected as the schools international player of the year. Seán Plunkett and Gerald Pender have signed for Bray Wanderers. Josh O’Rourke has been playing regularly for Leinster U19 and was all set to play for the national team until an injury intervened. Seán Tobin (TY) has proved yet again to be a top shot at archery by winning the Elite Category. Ryan Smith (2B) and Ross Mitchell (1st) also made the podium in the outdoor archery championships The talented TY musicians Jason Kinlan, Michael Byrne, Niall O’Leary, Anthony Quill and Seán Tobin won the Wicklow area mini company with their music lessons business. Their talent is on display for all to see on the school website www.saintbrendans.ie where you can access the video of their song ‘You Lost The Game’. As regards team sports we were represented well by the boys at soccer, gaelic football, hurling, basketball, rugby, archery and chess. However, it has been one of the more barren years with only the senior soccer team bringing home any silverware in the shape of the Wicklow/Wexford cup. However, they were unlucky to lose out in the Leinster League at the semi final stages and the quarter final of the Leinster Cup. Luke Sheridan, Joe Horan and Cody Newell were on the treble winning Greystones RFC team. At the time of writing, the senior GAA team was waiting to play in the county final against St. David’s. I would like to thank everyone in the school, both staff and students, for giving of their best and representing the school so well throughout the year. Finally, the very best of luck to the boys who are doing the Junior and Leaving Certificate exams and hopefully they get the results they need in the autumn. PAUL MURPHY

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2012

Staff 2011-2012

Back row (l-r): David Meyler, Gareth Fitzpatrick, Angela Dwane, Mairead Hennelly, Michael O’Brien, Muriel Condren and Seán Langton Middle row: Elaine Shiely, John Murphy, Áine O’Gorman, Paul Murphy, Joy Burke, Eileen Lynn, Gráinne Roberts, Amy O’Neill, Janet O’Brien, Maryline Muzi-Duffin and Brian McDonald. Front Row: Noli Russell Klein, Paul O’Donoghue, Aaron Ryan, Nicky Kenny, John Taylor, Róisin Clancy and Niamh McCann.

Stallone Somers

Ross Dalton

COLLEGE This year’s magazine covers were designed by two of Ms McCann’s sixth year Art students. The theme chosen for this year was ‘Life is a Journey’ and both of these talented students captured the essence of this theme through their artwork. The front cover was designed by Stallone Somers and the back cover by Ross Dalton. Well done lads!

COL LEGE

Yearbook 2012

WOODBR OOK, BRAY, CO. WICKLO W. PH: 01-2822 317. FAX: 01-2822 616

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2012

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Back row (l-r): Anton Rivas Renedo, Jake Farrell, Luke Somers, Ben Guest, James Hanway, Stephen Cahill, Ryan Carroll, Hassan Shakil, Brendan Forde, Eckener Adizon, Carl Canoy, Glen Delaney. Front row (l-r): Dylan Cooper, Christopher Fagan, Nathan Devlin, Dylan Waters, Ryan Corcoran, Derek Sequeira, Jack Harvey, Andrew Cash, Eldhose Alias, Quentin Crinion, Steven Duffy, Ryan Doyle. Missing from photo: Adam Brown.

Back row (l-r): Mark Tuke, Joven Sagrado, Arvydas Macionis, Eoghan Hogan, Ross Mitchell, Robert McDonnell, Adrian Gurak, James Mulrooney, Dominick Tucker, Nathan Quinn Brennan, Jan Starzec. Front row (l-r): Jamie Leahy, Ryan Howlett, Patrick Hussey, Ethan Lacey, James Veltom, Ian Kirwan, Nathan O’Neill, Seán Murray, Michael McMahon, Abdullah Ouadria, Troy McMahon, Emmet McDonagh. Missing from photo: William Robinson.

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2012

C L A S S

P H O T O S

Back row (l-r): Conor Knox, Kamil Doroz, Conor Louth, Santiago Rivas Renedo, Aaron Kennedy, Owen Duffy, Nikita Polakovs, Denis Lazarenco, Eoin Barnes, Rory Ellard, James Mason, Abdul Ouadria, Shahin Afshar, Aidan Maguire. Front row (l-r): Anub P Biju, Conor Martin, Callum Brierton, Lloyd Whelan, Shane O’Hagan, Adam O’Brien Coone, Liam Prenter Morris, Christopher Yates, Kasper Gutkowski, Jack Conroy, Raymond Quinlan, Luke Nolan, Mark Kenny. Missing from photo: Padraig Murphy.

Back row (l-r): Daniel Pluck, Aaron O’Connor, Ryan Smith, Rhys Gallagher, Cameron Griffin, Cian Morley, Dylan Murphy, Christy Moorehouse, Gary Geldof Daly, Jack Doyle. Front row (l-r): Evan Mooney, Hasan Hammad, Shane Farrell, Allexis Alvarico, Dillon Watters, Josh Drew, Jordan O’Brien, Sam Carroll, Sergio Sinagoga, Nathan Clucas. Missing from photo: Roarke Connolly, Brandon Feely, Derek Kelly, Adam McCormack, Bill Moorehouse, Jimmy Moorehouse, Darragh Morley, Tadhg Nealon. 2012

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Back row (l-r): Tom Killeen, Matthew Clucas, Emmet O’Reilly, Patrick Horan, Alex Flynn Fitzgerald, Evan Byrne, Lukas Zilinskas, Colm Byrne, Adam Thompson, Conor Bracken. Front row (l-r): Ceejay Alvarico, Seán Batutay, Adam Phipps, Conor May, Christian Adizon, Vaughn Bongala, Luke Carroll, Karl Murphy, Jonathan Gaskin. Missing from photo: Jordan Campbell, Kenneth Coldrick.

Back row (l-r): Barry Carr, Gary Doonan, Andrew Woodcock, Gareth Collins, Kevin Kelly, Seán Devlin, Ruairi Guest, Dylan Lacey. Front row (l-r): Morgan Berry, Josh Bolger, Gerard Curran, Jack Carroll, Eoin Somers, Leon O’Callaghan. Missing from photo: Aaron Doyle, Dylan Gray, Cillian Kelly.

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2012

C L A S S

P H O T O S

Back row (l-r): Seán Butler, Tommy Kearney, Cian Buckley, Jason Kinlan, James Malone Middle row (l-r): Donal Tuohy, Niall King, Aaron Mulvey, Shane Anders, Anthony Quill, Shane Gilroy, Eoghan O’Reilly, Joseph Carey Front row (l-r): Lee O’Donnell, Nathan O’Rourke, Sam de Sousa, Rian Greene, Royce Doronila, John Doyle

Back row (l-r): Jamie Hilliard, Robert McDonald, Rory Doyle, Aaron Kinsella. Middle row (l-r): Rick Walshe, Daniel Tully, Lee Burke, Danny Perry, Aidan Mulligan. Front row (l-r): Cormac Kelly, Jordan Carr, Aaron Cahill, Ciarán Barnes, Seán Tobin 2012

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Back row (l-r): Blazej Kosznik, Briain O’Donnell, Brandon Murnane, Daniel Michael, Ervin Ivascevic, Dziugas Elva, Abed Benchenna, Cian Nally. Front row (l-r): Brook Kinsella, Dwayne O’Brien, Jack Mannion, Daniel Veltom, Conor Cleary, Stephen McDonnell, Craig Whelan, John Lee. Missing from photo: Marco Marsella, Marek Starzec, Emmet Stokes.

Back row (l-r): Osama Hammad, Lorcan O’Neill, Janis Franckevics, Daryl Brierton, Nathan Johnson, Andrew Kinsella, Ryan Tynan Tobin. Front row (l-r): Padraig Redmond, Shane Cox, Luke McGrath Doyle, Jake Baldacchino, Brandon Downey, Jamie Cromwell, Paddy O’Donnell. Missing from photo: Jordan Berry, Marcus Kelly, Luke O’Toole.

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2012

C L A S S

P H O T O S

Back row (l-r): Aaron Vaughan, Nico Marsella, David P Byrne, Craig Duggan, David Whelan, Gavan Burke, Darragh Smith, Josh O’Rourke, Shane Farrell, Ger Pender, Martyn Sustavicius, Oscar Cotter, Steven Mitchell, Dylan Lawless. Front row (l-r): Gary Delaney, Owen McNaughton, Colin Bengochea, Cody Newell, Keith O’Reilly, Carl Reynolds, Adam Jordan, David J Byrne, Paul Dagbay, Seán Plunkett. Missing from photo: Ryan Cleary, Jordan Flood, Fergus O’Brien.

Back row (l-r): Michael McHugh, Ross Dalton, Killian Finn, Joe Horan, Iain Collins, Tom Clancy, Fergal Browne, Hugh Douglas, Helmi Hammad, Rhys Gorman, Seán Tobin, Arturas Karoblis, Kevin O’Leary, Nathan Cardin, Shane D O’Toole. Front row (l-r): Jack Kennedy, Stallone Somers, Conor McMahon, Ultan Duignan, Sahand Afshar, Lukas Nowicki, Emmet O’Sullivan, Francis Aristosa, Luke Sheridan, David Sullivan, Rory Plunkett Boyle. Missing from photo: Christopher Carroll, Robert Murray, Shane M O’Toole. 2012

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SIXTH YEAR PROFILES... SAHAND AFSHAR

Nickname: S, Farzin, Farzo Most embarassing moment: Wetting myself last week….! Favourite Music: RHCP, REM, BANGS – Take You To The Movies Best known for: Small bike Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Property developing Greatest Achievement: Flying without wings

FERGAL BROWNE

Nickname: Ferg, Pinky, Fergie, Browner, A Van Persieee, Oráiste Most embarassing moment: Falling in a puddle of mud in Glendalough in front of a bus full of girls Favourite Music: All types from Jack Johnson to Johnny Cash Best known for: Scoring 30+ goals for Arsenal in ‘11/’12 season Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Married to the girl who works in Schuh in Dundrum Greatest Achievement: Getting ‘best dressed’ on a non-uniform day by Mr. O’hAnnaidh and getting Cardiff City to the premiership in FIFA ‘12

DAVID P BYRNE

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Nickname: Fran, Frankie, Filip, Ian Most embarassing moment: Pronouncing some words incorrectly like ‘factor’ and my awkward laugh Favourite Music: Romantic lovey-dovey stuff Best known for: Basketball and being a good student Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Pursuing my dreams Greatest Achievement: Being excessively romantic and choosing St. Brendan’s over Pres

GAVAN BURKE

Nickname: Gav, Slayer Most embarassing moment: Coming second on the X-Factor back when no one watched it Favourite Music: The Coronas, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Coldplay, Snow Patrol Best known for: Breaking my arm and leg, getting pneumonia, and doing my Junior Cert all in the same year Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Rewriting the script to Desperate Housewives so that Mike doesn’t get killed Greatest Achievement: Beating Mr. O’hAnnaidh at table tennis with my journal….twice

NATHAN CARDIN

Nickname: Screeeech Most embarassing moment: Knowing JP Preteau Favourite Music: Dubstep featuring Elton John Best known for: Take a guess: P Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Vice president of Ireland’s personal shoe shiner Greatest Achievement: Coping with Paul Kirwan

FRANCIS IAN ARISTOSA

2012

Nickname: Debbie, Spoony, Nate Dogg Most embarassing moment: I don’t get embarrassed – I’m unembarrassable per se Favourite Music: Paul Simon and Barry White, maybe a bit of John Lee Hooker Best known for: Being a consistently hard worker in school Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Hosting a late night talk show with Killian Finn Greatest Achievement: Two-time Student of the Year – no biggie

COLIN BENGOCHEA

Nickname: Bengo Most embarassing moment: I don’t get embarrassed Favourite Music: Pixies, 2-Pac, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley Best known for: Not going to school Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Driving a Bentley Greatest Achievement: Getting a job and finishing school

DAVID J BYRNE

Nickname: Day Burner, Burner 2KB, D Burnmeister Most embarassing moment: Getting rejected by Ms.O’Gorman and Ms.Clancy when asking for a date to the Debs Favourite Music: Trance, hardhouse, jumpstyle, hardstyle, heavy metal, speed metal Best known for: Getting way too many mots. Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Showing everybody my army guns and running the Martello Greatest Achievement: Buying and selling of dogs

TOM CLANCY

Nickname: I was called Clancy once; Napoleon Most embarassing moment: Every time McHugh slags Killian and I witness it Favourite Music: Underground music scene like One Direction Best known for: My array of skills – archery, treasure hunting, interpretive dance and being part of Tom & Mick Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Beside Finaldo discussing where it all went wrong Greatest Achievement: Going back in time in a Delorean built by Mr. Black to save my family’s existence.

SIXTH YEAR PROFILES... IAIN COLLINS

Nickname: Ommm, Dishy Daithi, Iaiaiaian Most embarassing moment: Breaking my wrist running backwards in a race against Owen, losing and breaking my fair usage policy three times Favourite Music: The music to Countdown Best known for: Being spotted with Carl in Faoinse on several occasions Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Living it up and rocking hard Greatest Achievement: Beating Mr. O’hAnnaidh in golf in 2nd year and winning the Wicklow U18 boys golf tournament

ROSS DALTON

Nickname: Doss, Ross the Boss, Scott (by some) Most embarassing moment: Knowing Ardan Preteau Favourite Music: Metallica featuring Susan Boyle Best known for: Being Ross Where do you hope to be in ten years time: The President of Ireland’s personal shoe shiner Greatest Achievement: I’m working on it….

SHAUN DOYLE

Nickname: Bopy, Doyler, Bops Most embarassing moment: Being threatened by Loyalists on the Shankill Road for leaving ‘a message’ on the Peace Wall Favourite Music: Electro, House, Minimal Best known for: Being a total troll, being a DJ and my ‘unique’ drawings Where do you hope to be in ten years time: DJ’ing abroad and releasing club classics Greatest Achievement: Getting my own radio show and making it through school

OSCAR COTTER

Nickname: Cots, Cotsball Most embarassing moment: The contraception incident in 1st year Favourite Music: Hugh Douglas in the shower, Oasis, Keith Margo Best known for: My beautiful strawberry blonde hair and for being a style icon according to Mr. Fitzpatrick Where do you hope to be in ten years time: In NASA with the aid of Ms. O’Gorman Greatest Achievement: Successfully avoiding Mr. Meyler for duration of 5th year and half of 6th year

PAUL DAGBAY

Nickname: Pauly D Most embarassing moment: Losing my passport in Paris on the first day Favourite Music: Anything Best known for: Being a basketball player Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Working Greatest Achievement: Being second in the All-Ireland Basketball Association

GARY DELANEY

Nickname: Dary Gelaney, Nanotuplet, Lady Gargar Most embarassing moment: My hair in TY Favourite Music: Dark Electronic, Ambiance, Post-rock, Urban, Asian, Bongo-metal Best known for: Having a bag twice the size of me Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Away from Bray Greatest Achievement: Developing a caring personality

HUGH DOUGLAS

Nickname: Hughie, Hugs, Doug Most embarassing moment: Coming to school with the ‘Joey Barton’ hair cut – I never heard the end of it Favourite Music: The one and only Keith Margo Best known for: Being extremely red and ok at football Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Teaching lads how to nutmeg in UCD Greatest Achievement: Being capped for the Republic of Ireland in football

CRAIG DUGGAN

ULTAN DUIGNAN

Nickname: Dug, Duggan, Duggie Most embarassing moment: Falling off the chair during Geography Favourite Music: Rave, Trance, Drake, The Wolfe Tones. Best known for: Hoo hoo Where do you hope to be in ten years time: In a successful job out of Ireland – maybe Australia Greatest Achievement: Finishing school and never getting suspended

Nickname: Ult, Ultimate, Dragon, Ulto Most embarassing moment: None, I embarrass people Favourite Music: Trance, rock, country, opera Best known for: Being a fun loving criminal Where do you hope to be in ten years time: On the beaches of Goa, chilling and exploring my inner character Greatest Achievement: Battling through 6 years of school

2012

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SIXTH YEAR PROFILES... SHANE FARRELL

JORDAN FLOOD

KILLIAN FINN

MARTYN SUSTAVICIUS Nickname: Farrell, Farreller, Thomas the Tank Engine Most embarassing moment: Racing Michael in 3rd year and getting sick after 5 minutes at Shero’s Favourite Music: Anything in the charts, Carly Rae Jackson, etc. Best known for: Resembling both Rene Higuita and Iniesta on a football pitch Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Part owner of the worlds largest shipping and transport company with David SullivanGreatest Achievement: Being €15 up on Mr. O’hAnnaidh after 6 years

RHYS GORMAN

Nickname: Turbo, Fleh, Gormo, Rhino Most embarassing moment: Saying ‘lads, seriously, how good do I look in a suit?’ during dress rehearsals and not knowing my mic was on Favourite Music: Biology in Knocksink - hats off to Hugh Douglas, David Byrne and Ryan Cleary – I will never forget it Best known for: ‘Did they use guns in WWII’, How come there are no beaches in the west of Brazil?’, laughing at my own jokes Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Looking at a photo of how ridiculously good I looked during my sisters 21st Greatest Achievement: Winning ‘best dressed’ three times only to be beaten by Emmet O’Sullivan

ADAM JORDAN

Nickname: A.J. Most embarassing moment: French trip & coming to school in shorts when it was raining Favourite Music: Anything Best known for: Nothing Where do you hope to be in ten years time: In America Greatest Achievement: Beating Mr. O’hAnnaidh in Gaelic

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Nickname: Finnaldo, Sharky, Killzone Most embarassing moment: Shero’s 18th #totes morto Favourite Music: Indie/alternative (anything Shane Farrell doesn’t listen to) Best known for: My original paragraph was too long so that says it all really Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Hosting a witty talk show on NBC or walking tall as WWE champion Greatest Achievement: Forging the bond between the ‘popular crew’ and ‘the inbetweeners’

HELMI HAMMAD

Nickname: None Most embarassing moment: I don’t get embarrassed Favourite Music: Anything Best known for: Nothing Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Anywhere Greatest Achievement: I’ve have countless great achievements

ARTURAS KAROBLIS

Nickname: Arddy, Arthur Most embarassing moment: French class in 5th year Favourite Music: Dubstep-Skrillex, Drum & Bass, Electro Best known for: Laziness and being very serious Where do you hope to be in ten years time: A successful entrepreneur with millions in my bank account and being happy Greatest Achievement: Beating Mr. Fitzpatrick in basketball, passing my driving test the first time, finishing school

Nickname: Susta Most embarassing moment: Breaking my hand in a ghost tackle Favourite Music: Saxophone Best known for: Getting hit in the face with a traffic cone Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Working as a gym manager Greatest Achievement: Being the first Lithuanian in the school

JOE HORAN

Nickname: Rockenjoe, Fingers, Mr. Funny Most embarassing moment: Going on frog-tech; pretending to like Gavan Favourite Music: The Candidates, Dain, cheesy elevator music Best known for: My hilarious jokes, being a booore in Chemistry, I am always right Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Somewhere nice with a bit of cash in my pocket – be grand like Greatest Achievement: Using a suit invented by Tony Stack to defend the world from evil, being friends with Jack

JACK KENNEDY

Nickname: Kack Jennedy, Jack is Black Most embarassing moment: Being a lightweight Favourite Music: Olly Murs, Frank Sinatra, Ben Howard, Coldplay Best known for: Being late, playing a lead role in the TY musical Back to the ‘80’s Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Performing in the West End, witnessing Tony Hibbert’s score, being an established goalkeeper on the astro Greatest Achievement: Getting Wimbledon to the Premiership on FIFA 12 and top corner save against Shane in PE

SIXTH YEAR PROFILES... DYLAN LAWLESS

Nickname: Dyl, Flawless, Midget Most embarassing moment: Having similar facial hair as Sasquatch in 4th year Favourite Music: Swedish folk music and rock Best known for: Facial hair and being a hippy Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Opening my own beard salon Greatest Achievement: Going through 5th year without doing work and having a full beard at the end of 3rd year

CONOR McMAHON

Nickname: Mace Man, Baldy Beano Most embarassing moment: When a crow pooed on me at break time Favourite Music: Anything and everything Best known for: Jumping across tables and messing Where do you hope to be in ten years time: In a job with lots of money and living in Fassaroe Greatest Achievement: Getting through school

ROBERT MURRAY

Nickname: Murray, Murrier Most embarassing moment: Trying to jump a little river in 2nd year and falling in Favourite Music: Anything Best known for: Eating biscuits, Delphi, Van Persayy Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Living in the States and becoming a full time sports coach Greatest Achievement: Winning the U15 Cup in Arklow, getting an A in Business and surviving 6 years in St. Brendan’s

NICO MARSELLA

Nickname: Chubbs, Nic, Marmsella Most embarassing moment: Falling off my bike into a bush on the first day back to school Favourite Music: Keith Margo Best known for: Being a unicorn Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Far away Greatest Achievement: Surviving six years of school

MICHAEL McHUGH

Nickname: Mick, The Big McHugh Most embarassing moment: Letting Carl escape from my pocket after sports day and never scoring for the school team Favourite Music: Dubliners and Wolfe Tones Best known for: Faking a seizure in class and being part of Mick & Tom Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Running a successful agri-industry and part-time farm and wondering how Killian replaced me as Tom’s bestie Greatest Achievement: Cooking one minute rice in 58 seconds

OWEN McNAUGHTON

STEVEN MITCHELL

Nickname: Damo Most embarassing moment: Forgetting my school jacket, but luckily, it didn’t rain Favourite Music: The screams of my victims Best known for: Cheating in table quizzes Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Wherever my heart takes me Greatest Achievement: Representing Ireland in the ESL Nations Cup for Starcraft II Wings of Liberty

Nickname: Ste-O Most embarassing moment: Getting knocked out by a door in the 4th year play Favourite Music: Anything but classical music Best known for: Curly hair and glasses Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Working in Dublin zoo Greatest Achievement: To be decided…

CODY NEWELL

Nickname: Fish Most embarassing moment: Missing an open net on sports day in 4th year Favourite Music: Ed Sheeran, Take That Best known for: Absolutely raging and being good looking Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Modelling in Milan Greatest Achievement: Ciarán Fisher two years in a row and being a physics freak

LUKASZ NOWICKI

Nickname: Lucozade, Fairy Liquid Most embarassing moment: My surname always being mispronounced Favourite Music: Queen, AC/DC, Michael Jackson, Blues and Piano covers Best known for: My never lasting hobbies Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Still thinking about that Greatest Achievement: Being captain of the school basketball team for the All-Ireland Cup and beating Mr. Fitzpatrick in basketball 2012

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SIXTH YEAR PROFILES... FERGUS O’BRIEN

Nickname: Gussi Most embarassing moment: Going to school with trousers ripped in half Favourite Music: Everything except rock Best known for: Using moisturiser during class Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Working in Australia Greatest Achievement: Completing school

JOSH O’ROURKE

Nickname: Joshman, Ogre Most embarassing moment: Putting my finger in a girls ear while kissing her Favourite Music: Rock, Dance, Hip-Hop, Techno Best known for: Playing rugby and knowing everything about soccer in Mr. Meyler’s class Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Maybe playing a bit of rugby Greatest Achievement: Getting an A in CSPE and playing for Ireland U18 clubs and Leinster club

SHANE MICHAEL O’TOOLE

Nickname: Tooley Most embarassing moment: Coming to graduation with a black eye Favourite Music: 1920s honky-tonk, piano, swinghouse Best known for: Not coming to school Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Still thinking about this one… Greatest Achievement: Ignoring the 9am cycle for charity – I was pathetically unsuccessful!

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2012

KEVIN O’LEARY

Nickname: Kev, K-Kev, Kevo, Newsreader Most embarassing moment: Mistakenly telling charity workers that people don’t really care Favourite Music: Rock, Alternative, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, David Bowie Best known for: Being an all round cool guy Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Living the high life Greatest Achievement: Finishing school and hopefully doing well in the Leaving cert

EMMET O’SULLIVAN

Nickname: EOS, Sully Most embarassing moment: When Francis beat me up in 5th year French Favourite Music: Game of Thrones and Battlestar soundtrack and Japanese industrial metal Best known for: Always being right about everything Where do you hope to be in ten years time: In space exploring the universe and being filthy rich Greatest Achievement: The best is yet to come…

RORY PLUNKETT BOYLE

Nickname: Ger, Pear Most embarassing moment: Getting Student of the Week and had all the boys laughing at me Favourite Music: Rap and Indie Best known for: Being a hero and playing football Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Earning some serious dollars and playing football at a high level Greatest Achievement: Representing my country and playing football in England

KEITH O’REILLY

Nickname: Keitho, Keiff, Keiffer Most embarassing moment: I was going to get a free iPhone from the bank – iPhone was not free Favourite Music: Mainly ‘60’s/’70’s and a bit before and after Best known for: Doing impressions of teachers and for being me Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Playing in the Royal Albert Hall in London as Keith Margo Greatest Achievement: Being Keith Margo

SHANE D O’TOOLE

Nickname: Tooler, Bob Most embarassing moment: Being seen in the school uniform Favourite Music: Anything and everything Best known for: Tooling around Where do you hope to be in ten years time: To be a successful architect Greatest Achievement: Driving to school

RORY PLUNKETT BOYLE

Nickname: Ratzy, Largezy, Fatzy Most embarassing moment: Getting rejected for a job in McDonalds Favourite Music: Cyndi Lauper, Jackie Moon, Keith Margo Best known for: Giving my number to girls I don’t know Where do you hope to be in ten years time: In Old Greg’s Place or in the middle of a zombie apocalypse Greatest Achievement: Sustaining my role as the biggest soft boy

SIXTH YEAR PROFILES... SEAN PLUNKETT

Nickname: Plunkz, Plunkett, Larry Most embarassing moment: Getting sick all over some woman’s back Favourite Music: Folk music, rap, hardhouse, rave and Buddy Holly Best known for: Being cute and for football Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Out of this town and being a gangster in Alicante Greatest Achievement: Getting a Formula 1 contract with BMW in Iran and fixing bikes

CARL REYNOLDS

Nickname: Garrr Reeyynnuullss, Late Stamp, Chimbonda Most embarassing moment: Throwing away the ball in a rugby match…twice Favourite Music: Nickleback, Ed Sheeran, Paolo Nutini Best known for: My library toilet trips and for Mr. O’hAnnaidh having a better hairline than me Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Not at the barbers anyway Greatest Achievement: Finishing runner-up for the 5th year French award…in a class of two

DARRAGH SMITH

STALLONE SOMERS

Nickname: Smitho Most embarassing moment: When I forgot my lines in the TY musical Favourite Music: Having pink hair in TY Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Still deferring my place in college Greatest Achievement: Being the only Irish person who played for the basketball team

Nickname: Larry Most embarassing moment: Cutting my finger off in woodwork Favourite Music: Dance, rave, hardcore, trance Best known for: Being Larry Somers Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Sitting on the dole Greatest Achievement: Not getting expelled from school

SEAN TOBIN

Nickname: Bimmzer Most embarassing moment: French document incident Favourite Music: Syllian Rale, The Candidates Best known for: Being really funny, strong, brave, handsome and modest Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Still trying to think of a funny answer to this question Greatest Achievement: My ECDL certificate – thanks Mr. O’Brien

LUKE SHERIDAN

Nickname: Shero, Fizz Most embarassing moment: Eh, lets just call it the ‘black Shero’ phase Favourite Music: Lads with Beards and Angels Voices Best known for: The curly mop of hair Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Sipping tea in St. Brendan’s s staffroom with Ms. Hennelly Greatest Achievement: Leinster team ‘loike’

DAVID SULLIVAN

Nickname: Sully, Sull the Bull Most embarassing moment: Going red in class Favourite Music: Kings of Leon Best known for: Marking pitches with Shane Farrell Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Marking pitches with Shane Farrell and owner of the world’s largest TNC with Shane Farrell Greatest Achievement: Scrubs knowledge and beating Mr. O’hAnnaidh in a race

AARON VAUGHAN

Nickname: Doyler Most embarassing moment: Pulling a rager in Irish Favourite Music: Anything Best known for: Selling iPhones Where do you hope to be in ten years time: Hustling people for money Greatest Achievement: Winning the inaugural darts competition in St. Brendan’s

DAVID WHELAN

Nickname: Wheelo, Ultan Most embarassing moment: Being mistaken for Ultan Duignan by a teacher on my first day Favourite Music: Anything but rock Best known for: Eating non-stop Where do you hope to be in ten years time: In a successful job Greatest Achievement: Finishing school

2012

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1 2

1. Paul Dagbay 2. Staff: (l-r): Janet O'Brien, Gráinne Roberts, Róisín Clancy, Áine O'Gorman, Seán Langton, Maryline Muzi-Duffin, Michael O'Brien, Angela Dwane 3. (l-r) Nathan Cardin, Fergal Browne, Luke Sheridan, Rory Plunkett Boyle, Shane Farrell 4. Back, l to r: Carl Reynolds, Shane D O'Toole, Lukasz Nowicki, Fergal Browne, Jack Kennedy. Front (l-r): Gavan Burke, Aaron Vaughan 5. Emmet O'Sullivan and Lukasz Nowicki

S T. B R E N D A N ’ S CO L L E G E Y E A R B O O K

2012

G R A D U A T I O N

6TH YEAR AWARDS Academic

Merit

Academic

Merit

Chemistry

Emmet O’Sullivan

Joe Horan

Construction Studies

Lukas Nowicki

Stallone Somers

Religion

Cillian Finn

Josh O’Rourke

Accounting

Tom Clancy

Francis Aristosa

Biology

Ross Dalton Francis Aristosa

Fergus O’Brien Luke Sheridan

Economics

Killian Finn

Gary Delaney

LCVP

Francis Aristosa

Kevin O’Leary

French

Francis Aristosa

Emmet O’Sullivan

History

Aaron Vaughan

Michael McHugh

English

Michael McHugh Sean Tobin Joe Horan

Luke Sheridan Killian Finn Kevin O’Leary

Art

Ross Dalton

Stallone Somers

Irish

German

Helmi Hammad

Fergal Browne

Tom Clancy Hugh Douglas Ger Pender

David Sullivan Killian Finn Helmi Hammad

Jack Kennedy

Ultan Duignan

Business

Gary Delaney

Shane Farrell

Physics

Owen McNaughton

Emmet O’Sullivan

DCG

Tom Clancy

Karl Reynolds

Geography

Sean Tobin Gavan Burke

Fergal Browne Shane Farrell

Attendance

Mathematics

Tom Clancy Joe Horan Gary Delaney Robert Murray

Francis Aristosa Shane D O’Toole Kevin O’Leary Stephen Mitchell

Fergal Browne; Tom Clancy; Gavan Burke Shane D O’Toole*; Carl Reynolds* Aaron Vaughan; Joe Horan; Jack Kennedy; Lukas Nowicki

STUDENT OF THE YEAR: Fergal Browne

Robert Clancy, Chairperson, Bray Lions Club, Feargal Browne Mr. John Murphy

Nico Marsella, Ryan Cleary, Shane D O'Toole Keith O’Reilly

SPIRIT OF THE YEAR: Keith O’Reilly

Iain Collins

Tom Clancy, Hugh Douglas, Gerald Pender

Owen McNaughton

Cody Newell

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2012

S P O R T S

D A Y

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S T. B R E N D A N ’ S CO L L E G E Y E A R B O O K

2012

Students V’s Teachers

PRETTY PINK PUFFS (STUDENT TEAM) - back row: Shane Farrell, Fergal Browne, Rhys Gorman, Martyn Sustavicius, David Sullivan; front row: Carl Reynolds, Nathan Cardin, Gavan Burke, Seán Plunkett, Dylan Lawless.

The eagerly awaited annual Students V’s the Teachers soccer match on sports day resulted in an end to the teachers winning streak of ‘4in-a-row’. The 6th year student team, calling themselves the ‘Pretty Pink Puffs’ were the victorious side. Ger Pender sealed the deal with the only goal of the match. Well done to the students – and don’t worry teachers – there is always next year!

TEACHER TEAM (with a little help from the students!) - back row: Briain O’Donnell (5th year), Michael O’Brien, David Meyler, Gareth Fitzpatrick, Kenny Black, Steven Carton (former pupil); front row: Luke McGrath Doyle (5th year), Seán Devlin (3rd year), Paul O’Donoghue, Nicky Kenny, Oisin O’hAnnaidh, Aaron Ryan.

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S T. B R E N D A N ’ S CO L L E G E Y E A R B O O K

2012

D E B S

2012

2 0 1 1

S T. B R E N D A N ’ S CO L L E G E Y E A R B O O K

Ms. Noli Russell-Klein retires

s. Noli Russell-Klein has been a teacher of German and English in St. Brendan’s College for twenty years. She served on the Board of Management for three years and acted as Year Head and Dean of Discipline. During her time here, she ran a Student Exchange program for six years with a school in Wurzburg, Germany that St. Brendan’s is now twinned with. Noli is well travelled having lived in Tuscany, Italy for eight years and in Germany for eight years. Whilst there, she taught in second-level schools and at the University of Siena. Noli has enjoyed her time teaching in St. Brendan’s. Since her arrival, the school has changed significantly. Noli herself commented on this change: “When I joined the school, there were only three other female members of teaching staff. Now, more than half the members are female. Times have changed!” On reflection of her time here, she said: “I have enjoyed my time teaching in St. Brendan’s College. It is a nice, small school and you can get to know all the pupils, even those that you don’t teach.” Noli has a wide range of interests and intends to utilise her degree in counselling and psychotherapy by continuing to see clients postretirement. She also mentioned her

hopes to “have time to paint pictures and see my little grand-daughter Charlotte.” Noli will be deeply missed by both students and teachers as she had a wonderful rapport with all she encountered. To her students, she was diligent, kind, caring and motivational. To her colleagues, she was equally kind and caring but also vivacious and inspirational. We wish Noli a very happy, healthy and well-deserved retirement!

Noli is hoping to “have time to paint pictures and see her little grand-daughter Charlotte.

Supports

ST. BRENDAN’S COLLEGE Allianz p.l.c., Allianz House, Elmpark, Merrion Road, Dublin 4. Telephone: +353 1 6133000 Fax: +353 1 6134444. Email: info@allianz.ie Website: www.allianz.ie 24

S T. B R E N D A N ’ S CO L L E G E Y E A R B O O K

2012

S T U D E N T

he Student Council for 2011/2012 was elected by their respective classes. The council consisted of Eckener Adizon (1A), Michael McMahon (1B), Owen Duffy (2A), Derek Kelly (2B), Paddy Horan (3A), Karl Murphy (3A), Barry Carr (3B), James Malone (TY), Eoghan O’Reilly (TY), Aaron Cahill (TY), Nathan Johnson (5A), Brook Kinsella (5A), Luke Doyle (5B), Marcus Kelly (5B), Oscar Cotter (6th year), David Whelan (6th year) and Aaron Vaughan (6th year). James Malone was chairperson, Owen Duffy was secretary and Karl Murphy was treasurer. This year the council proposed to have a non-uniform day every month, using half of the proceeds for purchasing books for various departments which students can access. Also, the Council approached the shop as they found it did not offer enough choice of food for lunch time. The shop has since expanded its range of products.

C O U N C I L

L A C O L

Some members of the Student Council 2011/2012 A more recent issue arose during one of our meetings this year. Some pupils requested the placement of crucifixes on the walls in order for the

school to portray its catholic identity more. This issue will be addressed next year.

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S T. B R E N D A N ’ S CO L L E G E Y E A R B O O K

ECKENER ADIZON JNR. Nickname: Hipster Things I will be remembered for: Never cursing, always being happy and being called Hipster Hobbies: X-Box 360, Dragon shouting, pretending to be a carrot Most likely career: Working for Black Mesa, not Aperture Science Person I admire most: Chris Fagan

ELDHOSE ALIAS

ADAM BROWN

Nickname: Number 2

Nickname: AD Things I will be remembered for: Sport, especially football Hobbies: Football, video games, hanging out with my brother

Things I will be remembered for: Loving to annoy people Hobbies: Chess, badminton and drawing Most likely career: Teacher

Most likely career: Tiler

Person I admire most: My parents

STEPHEN CAHILL

CARL CANOY

RYAN CARROLL

Nickname: Ste, Stevie, Rossi Things I will be remembered for: Playing football and motocross Hobbies: Motocross and football

Nickname: CJ

Nickname: Larry, Scorpio, Mammy

Most likely career: Garda or builder

Things I will be remembered for: Helping poor people Hobbies: Playing Conquer Most likely career: Caretaker Person I admire most: Chris Fagan

Person I admire most: James ‘Bubba’ Stewart

Things I will be remembered for: My nick names Hobbies: Rugby, XBox Most likely career: Playing rugby Person I admire most: Megan Fox

ANDREW CASH

DYLAN COOPER

RYAN CORCORAN

Nickname: None

Nickname: Dyl, Mini, Trooper Cooper, Cooper

Nickname: Corky

Things I will be remembered for: Being funny Hobbies: Playing football and boxing

Things I will be remembered for: Being the smallest in the school and being funny

Things I will be remembered for: Football and Gaelic

Most likely career: Footballer

Hobbies: Football and playing X-box

Hobbies: Football, Gaelic and hanging around with my friends Most likely career: Professional footballer

Person I admire most: Myself

Most likely career: Footballer

Person I admire most: My man and Messi

Person I admire most: Javier Hernandez

QUENTIN CRINION Nickname: Squintin, Fenton Things I will be remembered for: Breaking the table in the library and being funny Hobbies: Swimming, dodgeball, art, rugby, basketball Most likely career: Actor or comedian Person I admire most: Don’t know

S T. B R E N D A N ’ S CO L L E G E Y E A R B O O K

2012

GLEN DELANEY

NATHAN DEVLIN

Nickname: Glen of the Downs Things I will be remembered for: My intelligence and playing X-box alot Hobbies: X-box, rugby, football , dragon shouting

Nickname: Naho, Nay-hoo

Most likely career: Working for Aperture Science, not Black Person I admire most: Jarl Ulfric Storm Cloak

Things I will be remembered for: Nickname Hobbies: Reading, computers, chess Most likely career: Architect or electrician Person I admire most: Me!

RYAN DOYLE

STEVEN DUFFY

Nickname: Doyler, Flock

Nickname: Stevo, Duffman

Things I will be remembered for: No clue

Things I will be remembered for: Talking about Dubstep

Hobbies: Drawing, BMX-ing, Hurling

Hobbies: Rugby, listening to music and being lazy

CHRISTOPHER FAGAN

Most likely career: Don’t know yet

Most likely career: Chef

Nickname: Wilkus, Fagan Things I will be remembered for: Being the dragon born and being funny Hobbies: Gaming, Facebook, being hilarious, pretending to be a radish Most likely career: Working for Aperture Science not Black Mesa

Person I admire most: Ryan Giffs, Nani

Person I admire most: My older brother Mark

Person I admire most: Eckener Adizon

JAKE FARRELL

BRENDAN FORDE

BEN GUEST

Nickname: Spicer

Nickname: Brendy

Nickname: Guesty

Things I will be remembered for: Being a spicer

Things I will be remembered for: I don’t know

Hobbies: Football, boxing

Hobbies: Basketball, X-box, rugby, cycling

Hobbies: Rugby

Most likely career: I don’t know

Most likely career: Architect

Most likely career: Carpenter

Person I admire most: Superman

Person I admire most: I don’t know

Person I admire most: Scorpio

ADRIAN GURAK

JAMES HANWAY

JACK HARVEY

Nickname: None

Nickname: Hanaway, Sammy

Nickname: None

Things I will be remembered for: My speed and football skills Hobbies: Football, running, sport, hanging out with my mates Most likely career: Pro footballer or something to do with business Person I admire most: Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Aguero

Things I will be remembered for: Football and scoring winner in the 1st year Gaelic match

Things I will be remembered for: Football and Gaelic Hobbies: Football, Gaelic and hanging out with my friends

Hobbies: Football and listening to music

Most likely career: Professional footballer

Most likely career: Carpenter

Person I admire most: Messi, Ryan Gallagher and Jack Conroy

Person I admire most: My grandad

EOGHAN HOGAN

RYAN HOWLETT

PATRICK HUSSEY

Nickname: None

Nickname: Paddy

Things I will be remembered for: Randomness, being childlike

Things I will be remembered for: Playing video games and reading comics

Hobbies: X-Box

Hobbies: Hiding in boxes and street fighting in video games

Things I will be remembered for: Messing, talking in every class, saying mmkay

Most likely career: Game Designer Most likely career: Game Designer Person I admire most: Rihanna, Dappy, Will Smith

Person I admire most: No one

Hobbies: Singing, basketball Most likely career: Singer or judge on X-Factor or Britain’s Got Talent Person I admire most: Bob Marley, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King 2012

S T. B R E N D A N ’ S CO L L E G E Y E A R B O O K

IAN KIRWIN

ETHAN LACEY

JAMIE LEAHY

Nickname: Iano

Nickname: None

Nickname: Little Jimmy

Things I will be remembered for: Having a laugh in class

Things I will be remembered for: Notes in my journal

Hobbies: Football, GAA

Hobbies: Skateboarding, X-box, basketball

Most likely career: Hopefully football

Things I will be remembered for: I don’t know Hobbies: X-Box

Most likely career: I don’t know

Person I admire most: Rodney Mullen

Person I admire most: Leo Messi

Person I admire most: Shay Given

ARVYDAS MACIONIS

EMMET McDONAGH

ROBERT McDONNELL

Nickname: Adidas

Nickname: Junk

Nickname: Rob

Things I will be remembered for: Messing, being late and my pale face

Things I will be remembered for: Saying ‘mmkay’

Things I will be remembered for: Being very quiet

Hobbies: Free running, football, Gaelic, hurling, rugby

Hobbies: Playing PS3 Most likely career: Working in Game Stop

Most likely career: KFC or moonshining

Person I admire most: Nelson Mandela

Person I admire most: Pablo Escabar

Hobbies: Football, PS3

Most likely career: A decent job (if there are any) Person I admire most: Ryan Giggs and my Dad

MICHAEL McMAHON

TROY McMAHON

ROSS MITCHELL

Nickname: Afroman

Nickname: Redzer

Nickname: Mitchey

Things I will be remembered for: My hair

Things I will be remembered for: Being funny and getting into trouble

Hobbies: Rugby

Hobbies: BMX-ing and a little bit of football

Things I will be remembered for: Being myself Hobbies: BMX-ing and hanging around with my friends

Most likely career: Rugby player

Most likely career: Pro BMX-er

Most likely career: Security guard

Person I admire most: Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, my grandad

Person I admire most: Harry Main, Adam L.Z

Person I admire most: Bob Marley, Will Smith

JAMES MULROONEY

SEAN MURRAY

NATHAN O’NEILL

Nickname: None

Nickname: Natho

Things I will be remembered for: Being quiet, kind and tall

Things I will be remembered for: Being random

Things I will be remembered for: Being funny in class and saying ‘mmkay’

Hobbies: X-Box, hiking, walking, rowing

Hobbies: Rowing

Hobbies: Playing football and PS3 with my friends

Most likely career: Game Designer

Most likely career: To be in Formula 1

Person I admire most: My dad

Person I admire most: Neil Lennon

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2012

Most likely career: Accountant Person I admire most: Luiz Suarez

ABDULLAH OUADRIA Nickname: Abdul Things I will be remembered for: Playing soccer and being good at MW3

JOVEN SAGRADO Nickname: None Things I will be remembered for: Shuffling, playing basketball and saying Robaart Hobbies: Basketball, football, online gaming, drawing Most likely career: Basketball player or artist Person I admire most: Shaquille O’Neill, my brother and artist

LUKE SOMERS Nickname: Somers Things I will be remembered for: I don’t know Hobbies: Soccer, rugby, tennis, athletics, GAA, writing Most likely career: Something in sports or writing Person I admire most: Robin Van Persie, Lionel Messi

ANTON DE ARRIBAS DE RENEDO

Nickname: None

Nickname: Antonavich, Anto, Antwon Things I will be remembered for: My walk, my locker key, my 8 cats and 6 guinea pigs

Things I will be remembered for: Never getting a bad note in 1st year

Hobbies: Football games and video games Most likely career: Soccer player or game designer Person I admire most: Peter, Niall, Seán, Eoin and Richard

NATHAN QUINN BRENNAN

Hobbies: Football, Xbox, BMX-ing Most likely career: Pilot Person I admire most: My mam

Hobbies: PE, chess, reading Most likely career: Detective or inventor Person I admire most: Yoda and my guinea pig Bozo

DEREK SEQUEIRA

HASSAN SHAKIL

Nickname: None Things I will be remembered for: Asking complicated questions in English and Maths Hobbies: Cycling, computers, chess and collecting model planes

Nickname: None Things I will be remembered for: Being the only person in the school from Pakistan Hobbies: Basketball

Most likely career: Scientist or pilot Most likely career: Working in a bank Person I admire most: Bear Grylls Person I admire most: My family

JAN STARZEC Nickname: Jan the Man Things I will be remembered for: Not laughing or smiling a lot. I’m very serious Hobbies: Classic cars, playing video games, American civil war. I love cheese Most likely career: Chemist Person I admire most: Robert E. Lee

DOMINICK TUCKER Nickname: Dom Tuck Things I will be remembered for: Claymore in Black Ops Hobbies: Video games, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 Most likely career: Game reviewer or game designer Person I admire most: No one

MARK TUKE

JAMES VELTOM

DYLAN WATERS

Nickname: None

Nickname: Veltom

Nickname: None

Things I will be remembered for: Being an amazing footballer

Things I will be remembered for: I don’t know

Things I will be remembered for: Playing football

Hobbies: Football and running Most likely career: Footballer

Hobbies: Playing football, being out with my friends, PS3, listening to music Most likely career: Engineer Person I admire most: Ryan Giggs

Hobbies: Playing football Most likely career: Carpenter Person I admire most: My dad

Person I admire most: Steven Gerard

2012

S T. B R E N D A N ’ S CO L L E G E Y E A R B O O K

By LUKAS ZILINSKAS 3rd Year

t. Brendan’s junior players trained every Tuesday in the school hall. Their coach, Mr. Fitzpatrick trained the team to improve their skills. The training paid off as the team won the league campaign and qualified for the cup. Unfortunately, they were later knocked out. Despite this, it was a successful season in the league even though the team was unlucky in the cup. The senior team trained every Thursday in the hall. Coach Fitzpatrick trained and prepared the team for the season ahead. They came second in the league campaign and qualified for the cup. The team progressed to the semi-finals but unfortunately lost, and took runner-up position in the cup. Both teams had training every Friday and all players worked very hard to achieve the best position in both the league and the cup campaigns. At the end of the season, Coach Fitzpatrick treated us to a pizza party in the school! It was a good season and all the players are working hard for the next season to be an even bigger success. Many thanks go to Coach Fitzpatrick for his time and expertise!! SENIOR SQUAD: Ceejay Alvarico, Dziugas Elva, Sean Batutay, Vaughn Bongala, Alex Flynn, Conor May, Kasper Gutkowski, Denis Lazarenco, Shane O’Hagan and Liam Prenter Morris JUNIOR SQUAD: Francis Aristosa, Dziugas Elva, Vaughn Bongala, Paul Dagbay, Nathan Johnson, Lukasz Nowicki, Darragh Smith and Lukas Zilinskas.

Congratulations to Rian Greene, TY, who was the runner up in the Leinster Championship 70-80 kilo competition. The fight took place in St. Michael’s Club, Athy, Co Kildare. In total, there were forty fights that day and Rian’s fight was the final event. He was fighting out of the red corner representing Ballywaltrim boxing club. 30

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2012

S P O R T S

By RYAN SMITH 2nd Year

Seán Tobin

n the St. Brendan’s archery club, we use recurve bows that can be disassembled when finished with. We use a quiver to hold our arrows, sights to line up our shots and stabilisers to stop us shaking with the bow at full draw. There are two types of competitions: indoor and outdoor. In the indoor competitions, we shoot at 18 metres. Whilst in the outdoor competitions, we shoot at 20-100 meters. We shoot three arrows indoor and six outdoor. Archery lessons are held every Friday evening in St. Brendan’s from 7-9pm. In the Indoor National competition 2012, St. Brendan’s won team medals. The archery team consists of Seán Tobin, Seán Butler, John Doyle, Aaron Kennedy, Daniel Pluck, Shane Farrell, Ross Mitchell, Santiago Rivas Renedo and Ryan Smith.

UNDER-15 FUTSAL TOURNAMENT t. Brendan’s U-15 Futsal (five-aside football) team competed in an indoor tournament in Woodlands Academy in May 2012. Unfortunately, the first match yielded a poor result for St. Brendan’s College against St. David’s of Greystones. As the team had not played futsal before, it took another game to get a grasp of the rules and the style of play. St. Brendan’s turned it around in their last three games and achieved two wins and a draw which brought them

to the semi-final of the cup. They went on to play St. David’s again in which they drew 2-2 in regular time with St. Brendan’s eventually winning 2-0 on penalties. St. Brendan’s college faced a strong Dublin Oak team in a tough game which ended 3-3 in regular time. Two great goals from Aidan Maguire and Cameron Griffin brought them to penalties. Penalties from Cameron Griffin and Padraig Murphy were responded to by Dublin Oak. Raymond

Quinlan took the last penalty and coolly placed it home. This time, Dublin Oak had no response. St. Brendan’s were the winners of the indoor Futsal Cup in Woodlands Academy. Sincere thanks to Mr. Black and the two great managers, Steven McDonnell and Briain O’Donnell. Thanks also to all the players who participated in the tournament: Adam O’Brien, Cameron Griffin, Padraig Murphy, Owen Duffy, Raymond Quinlan, Luke Nolan, Aidan Maguire and Jack Conroy. 2012

S T. B R E N D A N ’ S CO L L E G E Y E A R B O O K

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By RHYS GORMAN 6th Year

tAtAtAtAtAtA

he U-19 football team was managed this year by Mr. Bergin. It proved to be a very successful and enjoyable year for the school team. The journey began back in October with the team under high pressure as they entered the Leinster Senior Cup. The first match for the star-studded side was an enthralling encounter against the local and bitter rivals, Presentation College Bray. St. Brendan’s squad proved too strong for the opposition as they ran out as 2-1 winners with UCD star Hugh Douglas and Bray Wanderers in form striker Gerald Pender. With a very strong squad, this St. Brendan’s team showed huge potential in bringing the title home at long last. Following their battle against Presentation Bray, the school side went on to face a somewhat unheard of St. Kieran’s from Kilkenny. With speculation of who the opponents might have on their side, St. Brendan’s showed a nervy start, going 1-0 down in the opening ten minutes. Our keeper was left with nothing to do but watch the ball sail

into the top corner. It took St. Brendan’s a while to settle down. The classy and experienced Bray Wanderers maestro, Seán Plunkett, kept a cool head to bring the sides level. This proved to spur his side on to a thumping 4-1 victory with a solid defensive performance after a shaky start by the defensive line-up, with centre half Fergus O’Brien popping up with his first for the side.

The classy and experienced Bray Wanderers maestro, Seán Plunkett, kept a cool head to spur his side on to a thumping 4-1 victory with a solid defensive performance after a shaky start The next game was against St. Aidan’s from Tallaght. Mr. Bergin, from experience, seemed worried about facing this footballing school, yet

quietly confident at his side’s ability. It was also time for the young Seán Devlin to make his debut for the side, proving to be more than capable to hold his own. Without Pender though, this proved a tough battle for the team. St. Brendan’s were the eventual winners with 4-2 on penalties and nothing shy of heroics from goalkeeper Shane Farrell in the shoot-out. The team with high hopes headed into the quarters to face St. Joseph’s from Ringsend. This was where their journey would come to a sad end. With Devlin’s previous performance securing him a place in the starting eleven, Benchenna was pushed into an unfamiliar 4-5-1 formation. He showed tremendous versatility and skill throughout the game and this forced more decisions to be made by Mr. Bergin. After going 2-0 down, St. Brendan’s looked all but beaten until Captain Douglas came up with a brace to level the sides in the dying embers of the game. This was until St. Joseph’s number 8 came up with a last minute winner to secure his team’s place in the semi-finals.

Under-17 Soccer The lads only played two games in the Wicklow-Wexford League this year as we were in a small group of three. The first game was at home to a very strong Presentation Bray, who beat St. Brendan’s 4-3 in an exciting game. Scorers were Ross Griffin and Daryl Brierton. The next game resulted in St. Brendan’s losing 2-1 to Kilcoole on an absolutely terrible day in 32

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By MR. DAVID MEYLER

Greystones. Ross Griffin gave St. Brendan’s the lead early in the game, but a number of mistakes lead them lose out in a close game. This was not helped by the weather conditions. Best performers for St. Brendan’s over the two games were Ross Griffin, Danny Perry, Seán Devlin, Briain O’Donnell, Luke McGrath Doyle, Ryan Tynan and Rory Doyle in goal.

S P O R T S

ith St. Brendan’s out of the Leinster Senior Cup, manager Mr. Bergin had time to focus on the Wicklow/Wexford League which he has seemed to perfect over the years. Our first match was against local rival Presentation Bray. With a point to prove, Presentation came flying out of the blocks to take a 2-0 lead. Our new starting keeper, Rob Murray, kept his side in touching distance from the ever threatening Presentation. A quick two goals from the deadly Douglas and Pender combination levelled the game. Bray Wanderers youngster, Ross Griffin, proved a huge addition to the squad with his hard work and tenacity. The nail-biting encounter was far from over as Presentation hurled themselves into a 3-2 lead. St. Brendan’s brought the game back level with a solo effort from Seán Plunkett. At 3-3, both teams were going hell for leather and neither looked like budging. The game came to a climax in the last five minutes when a cross whipped in from deep by the consistently solid Cardin and found its way to Gorman, who thought he had sealed the deal for

St. Brendan’s. The celebrations were cut short by a last minute penalty slotted home by the Presentation number 10. St. Brendan’s proved to be strong enough to shake off their points dropped and go on to punish the following two teams to face the side. They thrashed St. Killian’s, 5-2 and Coláiste Craobh Abhainn, 5-2. The side went on to face a De La Salle squad, tipped to be their strongest in years. Mr. Bergin’s team merely went about their business and prevailed as 1-0 winners with a vital solo effort from winger David Sullivan. With the seemingly unstoppable side unbeaten so far in the Wicklow-Wexford Championship, the next team who stood in their way of success was Wexford CBS. After wind of Wexford beating Presentation in the other quarter finals, the Brendan’s brigade feared the worst. With complete determination, the talented outfit simply blew the Wexford selection off the park with an emphatic 8-2 score line. Sublime strikes worth mentioning on the day came from midfielder Plunkett and from centrehalf Gorman. Pender was starved of his 10th as Douglas marched on to obtain the top goal scorer accolade. The final was not such an easy event as the Gorey

CC side proved worthy of the battle. With the crowd behind the Brendan’s troops, winger Dylan Lawless ‘took one for the team’ while bravely scoring a header and consequently broke his nose, forcing the threat he posed to be subbed off, which proved a blow to the side. The strength of the squad proved more than adequate as Jordan Carr came on to show what he could do. He posed an equal threat with the wingers pace and skill down his unfavoured left side. For the second week running it took Seán Plunkett with a Steven Gerard like strike to force Brendan’s to a 2-1 lead. With Gorey’s number 9’s blistering pace proving difficult throughout, he notched a second to level the outing. In the ninetieth minute, with nothing to lose, Gorman was sent up from the back to use his long throw trait to launch it into the box. Douglas, like a salmon, rose above his peers to loop a header over the onlooking Gorey goalie that remained rooted to the spot and clinch the title for the side he captained. The journey was a thoroughly enjoyable one and the team would like to extend their gratitude and thanks to Mr. Bergin for all his time and effort over the year. RHYS GORMAN 2012

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Senior M r. O’Donoghue was in charge of the Senior Gaelic team this year. We started poorly, struggling to field a team against Baltinglass and resorting to playing with a lot of younger players. We improved in our next game. We faced Avondale, who have always been formidable opponents throughout the years. There was a bigger turn out for the game amongst the senior players but unfortunately, we narrowly lost out in the end. We progressed into the Shield semifinal where we met local Bray school St. Killian’s. This was a tight affair in the first half and we led by one point at the break. We started the second half well and proved much too strong for St. Killian’s in the final twenty minutes. We ran out convincing winners and now had the opportunity to bring some

By GAVAN BURKE 6th year silverware back to the school. This would be the final time that most of us would represent the school in the sporting field again.

1ST YEAR GAELIC By Ms. Coffey St. Brendan’s 1st year team gave a good performance in the first match of the season against St. David’s of Greystones. St. Brendan’s played with an almost gale force wind in the first half, but were only one point up. However, they went out fighting in the second half and gave a brilliant performance to get the draw. The game ended 4-4 to 2-10. In the second game of the season, St. Brendan’s played a strong St. Killian’s side and failed to get a result with a few of their key players missing. In their final game of the group section, we were very unlucky to lose by 2 points to Coláiste Craobh Abhainn. Although this team failed to progress in the competition, they showed some potential for the future with some very good performances from Stephen Cahill, James Hanway, Jack Harvey and Ryan Corcoran. Most improved players include Michael McMahon and Robert McDonnell. 34

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We were to meet St. David’s of Greystones in the final. This encounter was played at Greystones GAA club. We knew going in to the game that they would be strong, so we needed a good start. A point right from the off gave us some hope, but St. David’s proved to be a lot stronger and more experienced, and held a convincing lead at half time. No one wanted to go out on a low note, so 110% effort was put into our second half performance. Despite St. David’s strength, we fought back well and won the second half. Unfortunately, it was not enough, but it did lessen the score line. On behalf of the Gaelic team this year, we want to thank Mr. O’Donoghue for his efforts and the time he spent with us which enabled us to play.

S P O R T S

RUGBY

My Rugby Experience his year, I represented the Leinster Under-18 club. For our first match, I changed position from front row to second row. We played the Irish Exiles in Manchester and won. The Irish Exiles are a team made up of players from England, Scotland and Wales, who are eligible to play for Ireland. Our Interprovincial Cup kicked off with a match away to Connacht at the sports grounds in Galway. It was a very tough match. We just about held out for the win in the end. We played Munster at home in Donnybrook in terrible conditions. The pitch was covered in water and it was a very tight match as the ball was so slippery. Once again we held out for the win. The final game was away against Ulster in Campbell College. We had expected this to be an easier match, but in a final you

cannot take anything for granted, as the Ulster team were hungry for a win. I was sent off with a yellow card during the first half which made it difficult for the team. Unfortunately, just before I returned, Ulster scored putting more pressure on us. At half time some words from the coaches put us back into the right frame of mind. We scored once again and kept the lead until the end and we won the Interprovincial Series. This was my second time winning the Interprovincial Series with Leinster and it was a great experience for me. After the Interpro’s, I was selected for the Ireland U18 clubs to play Italy in an away game. Unfortunately, I was unable to play due to an injury sustained which left me out for three months. One of my best memories of St. Brendan’s was playing rugby for the school.

By JOSH O’ROURKE 6th Year It allowed me to enjoy the game much more as there was less pressure when compared to Leinster and Ireland games.

St. Brendan’s Senior Rugby The senior squad season began and finished with Oatlands in the Leinster Development Shield. With only seconds remaining, St. Brendan’s found themselves 22-29 down and struggling to find a breakthrough. Some clever passing in the corner resulted in David ‘Bull’ Sullivan crashing over the line, leaving just a conversion to tie it up. Our whole season hinged on the boot of Rhys Gorman. With great composure and elegance, Turbo slotted over for

two points and levelled it!! The full time whistle blew and with much confusion, extra time was wrongly played. St. Brendan’s, with great determination, scored three fantastic tries due to the monumental efforts of Shane ‘’Plate Face” Farrell and the combined efforts of the rest of the pack. Unfortunately due to a technical error, a replay was organised for the following week. The resulting replay was a hard-fought affair with both

By LUKE SHERIDAN & SHANE O’FARRELL 6th year

sides evenly matched. But in the end, luck was not on our side. Oatlands prevailed after much controversy surrounding the ever present Shane ‘Plate Face’ Farrell and Josh ‘I Play For Leinster’ O’Rourke. It had been a short but eventful season and one which was thoroughly enjoyed by the whole squad. Many thanks go to Ms. Hennelly for all her time and effort in preparing us for our matches throughout the year. 2012

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JUNIOR ur chess team consisted of five players - Derek Sequeira, Eldhose Alias, Nathan Devlin, Glen Delaney and Anton Rivas Renedo. We took the chess club very seriously but we also enjoyed it alot. Our coach Steven Stokes helped us to improve our chess. He takes his own time to train every Friday. Most days during our break we play chess. This doesn’t just improve our skills but we also get to hang out with our friends. We played three matches against different schools. We won 1/5 matches against Gonzaga, 2/5 matches against Catholic University and 2/5 matches against St. Killian’s. Our chess team may not be the best but we all try our best and enjoy it alot which is the main thing. We all look forward to playing it again next year. DEREK SEQUEIRA, 1st Year

he chess team had notable successes throughout the year. The grit and determination from our rather young team was at times too much for the opposition to handle. The team consisted of our esteemed captain Iain Collins, Junior Vice Captain Carl Reynolds, our secret weapon Owen McNaughton, unbearable Aaron Vaughan and the unpredictable Rory Ellard. Firstly, we played against Blackrock who

SENIOR GOLF

we utterly destroyed. Then we played against Gonzaga, who we also beat due to some outstanding play from Rory Ellard. Unfortunately, our Junior Vice Captain, Carl Reynolds, was rested which resulted in us narrowly losing to Pres’ with a score of 5-0. Our chess heads were not screwed on that day. In the end, we enjoyed the year and had some great success.

By AARON VAUGHAN 6th Year

A young

Aaron Vaughan he senior golf team progressed tremendously over the last year. The team consisted of Iain Collins (3), Aaron Vaughan (8), Niall King (8), David Sullivan (18) and Luckasz Nowicki. The team displayed great strength, skill and determination against various schools in the Leinster fourball championship. Each member of the team performed well which resulted in wins over St. Benildus and sadly, a very closely fought loss against Kilcoole in Druids Glen. The team also competed in the strokeplay championships in Tulfarris. Unfortunately, the weather was horrendous and Iain, Aaron and Niall recorded scores of 75, 83 and 88 respectively. We missed out by one shot, but the team lived to fight another day. We enjoyed our outings and our school work did not suffer as we studied Physics several times over the course of our matches between shots. I also won the Wicklow Boys Championship in Greystones G.C.

T By IAIN COLLINS 6th Year

JUNIOR CHESS TEAM 2011-2012 Back row: Anton Rivas-Renedo, Derek Sequeira Front row: Glen Delaney, Nathan Devlin, Eldhose Alias

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S P O R T S

CHANGING ROOMS welcome addition to the facilities available at St. Brendan’s College was completed before Christmas with the handing over of keys to our new changing room block. The new building comprises of two changing rooms, each containing a changing area, four shower units, toilet and wash hand basins, a referee’s room/disabled changing room and a store room. As a result, students doing PE or representing their school, as well as visiting teams, will have an appropriate place to change before and after a game. Up to this, the students had been using a converted classroom inside the school building.

Pictured, left to right: James Mason (2nd year), Josh O’Rourke (6th year), Mr John Taylor (Principal), Hugh Douglas (6th year) and Conor Knox (2nd year).

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T R A N S I T I O N

Y E A R

DELPHI

e left Houston station for Delphi early one October morning. We were all excited about the activities we would be doing when we arrived. We travelled by bus to the centre after the train journey. When we arrived, we were taken for a walk around the woods. We didn’t mind this at first as we knew that we were going surfing and kayaking the next day. When we awoke the next morning we were told that our surfing and kayaking was cancelled due to bad weather and of course, we were

very disappointed. We were taken to do high ropes instead which was actually a really good activity. Later that afternoon, we were taken out to do orienteering instead of kayaking. That night, we were taken on another walk which was a wash out as it was lashing rain outside. The instructors knew that we had many disappointments on the trip and so, on the last day, they took us pier jumping. This was the best activity we did. Cormac singing ‘Billionaire’ to the girls was also class!!

Aidan - after falling in the bog

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www.b2b.ie S T. B R E N D A N ’ S CO L L E G E Y E A R B O O K

TRANSITION YEAR AWARDS Art MTW Religion French English Irish PE Science/Heritage Geog/Environmental Studies

Michael Byrne Royce Doronila Rian Greene Ciaran Barnes James Malone Cormac Kelly Danny Perry Danny Perry Sam de Sousa Ciaran Barnes Shane Anders Robert McDonald

Robert McDonald Jordan Carr Simon Cullen Tommy Kearney Shane Anders Daniel Tilley Cian Buckley Daniel Tilley Nathan O’Rourke Royce Doronila Eoghan O’Reilly Cian Buckley

German Business ECDL Maths DCG/MTW

James Malone Shane Anders Tommy Kearney Sean Tobin Ciaran Barnes Royce Doronila

Ben McGrotty James Malone Sean Tobin Aaron Kinsella Rick Walshe Jordan Carr

Work Experience Social Outreach Music

Anthony Quill Cian Buckley Anthony Quill

Michael Byrne

SPORTS AWARDS – 2012 SOCCER ARCHERY GOLF

Under 16 Player of the Year Senior Archer of the Year Junior Golfer of the Year

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Danny Perry Sean Tobin Niall King

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Y E A R

THE PRESIDENT’S AWARD his year, five students from St. Brendan’s signed up to do a Gaisce Bronze award. These students were Dónal Tuohy, Shane Anders, Niall King, Anthony Quill and Cormac Kelly. The Bronze award consists of doing thirteen weeks each of community involvement (charity work), By physical recreation (sports), personal skill (learning guitar) and an adventure CORMAC KELLY journey (hike). Also, we had to add another thirteen weeks to our favourite Transition Year part of the awards, for example, spend twenty-six weeks on personal skill. My choice for The Bronze award was to spend twenty-six weeks on physical recreation, which was rugby, and on personal skill, for which I chose a musical. For my community involvement, I worked in a charity shop and for my adventure journey, I walked the Wicklow Way and stayed overnight in Knockree Hostel. The students received medals and certificates. I would definitely recommend An Gaisce to students who are doing TY as it is an enjoyable experience. It keeps you occupied and you learn something new and mature a great deal.

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his year, as part of Transition Year, there was a music class organised for us. It was a triple class every Friday morning with Ms. Dwane as our teacher. It was a great success, as a large amount of the Transition Year this year has a huge interest in music. In the class, we looked at different styles of music at the beginning of the year and then soon started organising events in the school. The first event was in the form of a photo-shoot. The music class set up the stage with the red stage curtains and performed, while a photographer took photos of us on stage. The photographs were fantastic. The next event organised was part of Spirit Week, which was the week before mid-term break. For this, we organised a ‘Spirit Week Concert’. There were different acts from the different years within the school performing. The teachers also formed a band for the

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occasion called ‘Punishment Exercise’ and performed the classic ‘Teenage Kicks’ for the school. Two bands from TY performed their musical numbers – ‘State of Arms’ and ‘The Dimension’. All acts were received very well and everyone in the class really enjoyed setting it up and performing. Over the Christmas period, carolling was organised outside The Holy Redeemer in Bray in aid of Focus Ireland. There was also a Christmas fair in our school at which a selection of the music class were asked to sing carols along with some other students from 5th and 6th year. In March, we organised a Battle of the Bands with our year head Mr. McDonald. A lot of work was involved with a majority of TY doing jobs such as designing posters to advertise in Bray, designing and printing tickets, and organising acts from around the school to perform. On the day of the gig, the members of the music class that were going to be performing helped set up the equipment for the stage. It was a really great experience. The whole night was a success. It was a lot of hard work but it turned out great. The last event organised was a music video that was to be shot in the school. The song itself was written by

five members of the music class and the story for the video was written by the rest of the class. It was recorded in the school with professional equipment and was mixed by a sound engineer. The video was shot the week after the Battle of the Bands. The band performed in different parts of the school. The video is on the schools website. It turned out really well and the filming was amazing fun. TY music was a great success this year and it really made those Friday mornings worthwhile! Between all of the organising, song writing and practicing it was a really busy year with music and was one of the highlights of the year. Many thanks to Ms Dwane, Mr McDonald and all of the teachers involved for all of their effort, enthusiasm and expertise in making TY Music a truly memorable experience.

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Y E A R

Manchester United v’s Ajax n February this year, a group of students from TY and other years set off for Manchester. We met at the school at a 5.45am to leave at 6.00am. As we drove towards the Port, Dublin was beginning to wake up. We arrived at the port at 6.50am and drove into a parking area to wait to board the ship. We were travelling on Irish Ferries Ulysses, the

John Doyle Students in Transition Year all participated in a work experience programme. They worked in an area that they would like to work in when they finish school. This helped students to gain an insight into what the working world would be like. This year in St. Brendan’s there were many different types of work experience placements varying from IT, car mechanics, solicitors, the

Gardai and the fire service. All of the students enjoyed their placements and have gained some experience of work for the first time. These students will use the placement that they chose to help them choose their career when they leave school.

Anthony Quill ‘A WEEK IN THE AIR CORPS’ covered so much in one week that it is actually quite difficult to remember everything I did! I had the experience of seeing all of the aircraft - the CASA, PC-9m’s, Defender, Cessna 172’s, Beechcraft, AW-139’s and 135’s. I was brought to all of the hangars for the various aircraft and was also shown the guns - the Steyr AUG, GPMG, HK USP.45m PPK and SRAAW. We were also shown the museum - the out of service, Alluetta, and different workshops with all the air-works – ATC, BCU and much more. Overall, the week in the Irish Air Corps was such an educational and insightful week. It has been an incredible honour to have had this placement and I know I was very fortunate to have been given this opportunity. I would seriously consider a career in the Air Corps after this week and I have been very influenced by what I have experienced. It was a seriously epic experience.

By CIARAN BARNES Transition Year

biggest passenger car ferry in the world. On the ship, we found a free area with loads of seats and made that our base. Some lads slept, others went for a walk, but most of us got stuck into the food. We arrived into Holyhead at 11.45am and hit the road for Manchester. Two hours later, we stopped in Cheshire Services for a break. Next stop was the Trafford Centre for some shopping and to have our dinner. There was a food court made out of sections from a boat. We arrived in Old Trafford at 6.30pm - in time for the 8.05pm kickoff. Some students went into the Megastore for a look around. We climbed up the stairs to the very top of the North Stand. The Ajax fans then appeared beside us behind a police cordon. They were amazing fans. They burst into a rendition of Bob Marley’s ‘Three Little Birds’ which they never seemed to stop singing. Manchester United scored early in the game because of Javier Hernandez. Ajax scored twice in the second half to win on the night, but Manchester United went through on aggregate. After the final whistle, we made our way back to the bus. The traffic was really heavy as we were leaving Manchester. We stopped in Cheshire Services on the way back for food. We were in Holyhead and on the boat by 1.30am. Everyone found somewhere to sleep. We arrived back to the school at 6.40am the following morning. A great trip was had by all. Many thanks to the brave and enthusiastic teachers who accompanied us on our trip – Ms Hennelly, Mr Ryan, Mr Fitzpatrick and Mr O’Brien.

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This year, Transition Year students, with the help of Ms McCann, designed and planted their own garden which they nurtured and pruned throughout the year. Pictured above left: Joseph Carey, Cian Buckley, Niall King, Eoghan O’Reilly Right: Diarmuid McAree (Chief Forestry Inspector), Niall King, Shane Gilroy, Cian Buckley, Joseph Carey

his school year has been one of the busiest the M a t h e m a t i c s Department has ever had. From Mathematics Week to Engineering Week, many people have been involved in some activity. There have been many different events such as quizzes, fairs, competitions and trips, which all centered on mathematics. St. Brendan’s also had many By individual mathematic JAMES MALONE achievements from different Transition Year students throughout the year. Daryl Brierton, 5th year, achieved the highest mark in the first round of the Maths Olympiad and was subsequently invited to the training course. Anton Rivas Renedo, achieved the highest mark in the First Year Maths Olympiad. I qualified for the Mathematics Olympiad training course based on my Junior Certificate results. Many events also took place throughout the year, mostly

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during Maths Week. Transition year students, along with our sixth year counterparts, attended a mathematics lecture entitled ‘Maths in the Zoo’ in the RDS, while the first years went to the Dublin Wax Work Museum which was running a famous mathematician exhibit. The First Years also had a Mathematics Fair in the library which was organised by the transition year students and Ms. Dwane. There were also a number of quizzes that took place, some in class and others between schools. Hard luck to the sixth year quiz team which participated in the Leaving Certificate team table quiz. The team consisted of Tom Clancy, Francis Aristosa, Emmet O’Sullivan and Owen McNaughton. Better luck next time, lads! There were also a number of class quizzes held during our Maths classes for Engineering Week. Finally, all TY students got the chance to take part in the John Hooper Medal Project. As part of this project, each group surveyed a number of people and then analysed their results on a poster. This tied in with the statistics strand of the new Project Maths Course. So, from achievements to quizzes, and everything inbetween, St. Brendan’s has been very busy with mathematics this year. We are hoping for more of the same next year. Many thanks to Ms Dwane for her all of her help!

T R A N S I T I O N

t the start of the year, all TY students were informed about the AIB Build A Bank challenge. Most of us knew what it was from previous years and were very interested. All students were given the opportunity to create a C.V. and sit an interview with members of the AIB Bray staff to apply for positions on the Build-A-Bank team. I applied for the position of Manager and was successful! The team consisted of Daniel Tilley, James Malone, Rob McDonald, Eoghan O`Reilly, Joseph Carey, Niall King and myself. Our bank was Olympic based and ran very well throughout the year. We put a lot of effort into our presentation for the regional finals and this included getting professional posters and costumes. We made it to the top ten! Unfortunately my speech was not good enough to place us in the finals and that is where the story ended. The Build-A-Bank challenge is a great thing to get involved in and I would recommend it to anybody!

By CIAN BUCKLEY Transitions Year

By SEÁN TOBIN, Transition Year

ocial Outreach is a programme in which students help members of the community in various different ways. This year, students attended Tara Nursing Home, St. Cronin’s primary school and the St. Vincent de Paul charity shop. During our placements, we helped out by either talking to residents in the nursing home or helping pupils in the primary schools with their homework.

Y E A R

My placement for the first part of the programme before Christmas was in the Five Loaves soup kitchen. Here I cooked, cleaned and interacted with people who came in. From this experience, I learned about responsibility and perspective, in terms of other peoples situations in life. I also think it helped me mature. For the second part of the programme, I worked in the 2012

St. Vincent de Paul charity shop in Bray. I really enjoyed this placement because the interaction with customers and staff was always good and there was always something to do. In this placement I worked with another student in my class. Social Outreach is a great programme. This is not only for the experience I gained, but it also enabled me to have the opportunity to better myself. S T. B R E N D A N ’ S CO L L E G E Y E A R B O O K

History & Heritage trips E

very Tuesday and Friday afternoon, Mr J Murphy took transition year students on different history and heritage trips. We got a taste of everything from walks to museum trips. These trips were definitely one of the highlights of Transition Year as it provided us with an opportunity to learn about Science, History and Art outside of the classroom.

Favourite excursions included walks to The Scalp and Howth. Others enjoyed the National Art Gallery and treasure hunts around Trinity College and Dun Laoghaire Pier. These trips will be one of the things missed most about Transition Year. Thanks to Mr J Murphy for sharing his knowledge of the world on each and every one of these educational and interesting trips!

1916 WALKING TOUR...

KILMAINHAM GAOL TOUR...

TRINITY COLLEGE TOUR...

SCIENCE GALLERY TOUR...

NATIONAL GALLERY TOUR...

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DUN LAOGHAIRE PIER WALK...

HOWTH WALK...

BOTANIC GARDENS...

KILLINEY HEAD...

SUGAR LOAF WALK...

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HISTORY & HERITAGE TRIPS CONTD. CROKE PARK TOUR...

BRAY HEAD TOUR...

RATHMICHAEL...

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Y E A R

SHANNON AER-VENTURE

STUDENT ENTERPRISE AWARDS very year the school enters the Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown Mini Company competition. This year Michael Byrne, Anthony Quill, Jason Kinlan and I were chosen to represent the school in the competition. We put a lot of work into designing our board, putting together our business plan and coming up with the initial idea which was music lessons. By We ended up winning the Dun Laoghaire/ EOGHAN O’REILLY Rathdown final and went on to represent the area in Transition Year Croke Park for the national finals. Unfortunately, we did not place. However, even though we did not win, it was very enjoyable and a worthwhile experience. Another group with Rick Walshe, Daniel Tilley, Robert McDonald and Naill O’Leary also entered with their enterprise ‘Advertisement Distributors’ andachieved second place in the school final. Many thanks to Ms O’Brien and Mr O’Brien (no relation!) for all their This team achieved second place in the school final (l-r): help. Daniel Tilley, Niall O’Leary, Robert McDonald, Rick Walshe

Student Enterprise Award Winners (l-r): Anthony Quill, Eoghan O’Reilly, Jason Kinlan, Michael Byrne

By NIALL KING, Transition Year his year as part of our Transition Year programme, we had an outside speaker come in to talk to us every Thursday morning. These speakers ranged from the Guards to the

army and to numerous different charities. There were also different types of activities that we participated in which ranged from drumming to dancing.

One of the best activities we partook in this year was fencing. This was a new experience for everyone and a very enjoyable experience.

2012

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ACADEMIC 1st Year 2nd Year 3rd Year

5th Year

1st Year 2nd Year 3rd Year 5th Year

1st Year 2nd Year 3rd Year 5th Year 5th Year 5th Year 5th Year

ENGLISH Mark Tuke Eldhose Alias Dylan Murphy Santiago Rivas-Renedo Shane Farrell Cillian Kelly Sean Batutay Owen Somers Tom Clancy Michael McHugh Kevin O’Leary GAEILGE Emmet McDonagh Eckner Adizon Denis Lazarenco Eoin Barnes Christian Adizon Adam Thompson Daniel Michael Craig Whelan

MERIT Robert McDonnell Jake Farrell Sam Carroll Rory Ellard Hassan Hammad Andrew Woodcock Christian Adizan Garreth Collins Dillon Watters Francis Aristosa Luke Sheridan Ross Dalton Dylan Lawless Ian Kirwin Eldhose Alias Ryan Smith Rory Ellard Paddy Horan Jonathan Gaskin Ross Griffin Daryl Brierton

MATHEMATICS Jan Starzec Nathan Quinn Brennan Eckner Adizon Anton Rivas Renedo Owen Duffy Eoin Barnes Roarke Connolly Dillon Watters Shane Farrell Sergio Sinagoga Leon O’Callaghan Alex Flynn Garreth Collins Lukas Zilinskas Colm Byrne Daniel Michael Daryl Brierton Blazje Kosnik Dziugas Elva FRENCH Anton Rivas Renedo Eckner Adizon Nathan Devlin Eldhose Alias Ben Guest Callum Brierton Hasan Hammad Vaughan Bongala Sean Batutay Leon O’Callaghan Gary Doonan Briain O’Donnell Daryl Brierton Stephen McDonnell Andrew Kinsella BUSINESS STUDIES Eldhose Alias Nathan Quinn Brennan Owen Duffy Kamil Doroz Rory Ellard Rhys Gallagher Vaughn Bongala Emmet O’Reilly ACCOUNTING Blazje Kosnik Nathan Johnson BUSINESS Daniel Michael Jamie Cromwell ECONOMICS Daniel Veltom Stephen McDonnell LCVP Stephen McDonnell Jamie Cromwell

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S C H O O L

ACADEMIC 1st Year 2nd Year 3rd Year 5th Year

A W A R D S

MERIT

GEOGRAPHY Eldhose Alias Glen Delaney Jan Starzec Dominic Tucker Callum Brierton Conor Knox Ryan Smith Jack Doyle Emmet O’Reilly Conor Knox Leon O’Callaghan Sean Devlin Brandon Murnane Lorcan O’Neill

HISTORY Eckner Adizon Brendan Forde Nathan Quinn Michael McMahon 2nd Year Dylan Murphy Dillon Watters Owen Duffy Kamil Doroz 3rd Year Leon O’Callaghan Owen Somers Mathew Clucas Paddy Horan 5th Year Stephen McDonnell Osama Hammad GERMAN 1st Year Ian Kirwin Chris Fagan 2nd Year Owen Duffy Rory Ellard 3rd Year Lukas Zilinskas Adam Phipps 5th Year Marek Starzec Nathan Johnson SCIENCE 1st Year Eckner Adizon Adam Brown Jan Starzec Derek Sequira Eldhose Alias Chris Fagan 2nd Year Rory Ellard Ray Quinlan Cameron Griffin Alexis Alvarico Owen Duffy Shane O’Hagan 3rd Year Leon O’Callaghan Gary Doonan Matthew Clucas Vaughan Bongala CHEMISTRY 5th Year Brandon Murnane Brook Kinsella PHYSICS 5th Year Daniel Michael Daryl Brierton PE 1st Year Stephen Cahill Eckner Adizon Mark Tuke Dominick Tucker 2nd Year Padraig Murphy Rory Ellard Adam O’Brien Coone Jack Doyle Cameron Griffin Evan Mooney 3rd Year Vaughan Bongala Thomas Killeen 5th Year Daniel Michael Stephen McDonnell MTW 1st Year Anton Rivas Renedo Ross Mitchell Eckner Adizon Patrick Hussey 2nd Year Ryan Smith Ray Quinlan Josh Drew Jack Doyle 3rd Year Leon O’Callaghan Sean Devlin TECHNICAL GRAPHICS 1st Year Nathan Devlin Derek Sequira 2nd Year Aidan Maguire Sam Carroll Adam O’Brien Coone Hasan Hammad 3rd Year Lukas Zilinskas Karl Murphy CONSTRUCTION STUDIES 5th Year Stephen McDonald Luke McGrath DCG 5th Year Briain O’Donnell Daryl Brierton 1st Year

2012

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S T. B R E N D A N ’S C O L L E G E Y E A R B O O K

2012

S C H O O L

1st Year

ACADEMIC ART Glen Delaney Josh Drew Christian Adizan Lorcan O’Neill CSPE Nathan Quinn Brennan Chris Fagan Aaron Kennedy Kenny Coldrick SPHE Eckner Adizon

2nd Year

Rory Ellard

3rd Year

Luke Carroll

1st Year 2nd Year 3rd Year 5th Year 1st Year 2nd Year 3rd Year

1st Year

A W A R D S

MERIT Eldhose Alias Gary Daly Vaughan Bongala Luke McGrath

Ryan Carroll Lloyd Whelan Conor May Brendan Forde Emmet McDonagh Callum Brierton Dylan Murphy Evan Byrne Gerard Curran

RELIGION Dominic Tucker Eckner Adizon Callum Breirton Ryan Smith Andrew Woodcock Matthew Clucas

James Mulrooney Brendan Forde 2nd Year Conor Louth Dylan Murphy 3rd Year Owen Somers Christian Adizan 5th Year Ross Griffin Nathan Johnson Marek Starzec YEAR HEAD AWARDS 1st Year Ian Kirwin Ryan Corcoran 2nd Year Callum Brierton Alexis Alvarico 3rd Year Paddy Horan Leon O’Callaghan 5th Year Daryl Brierton Daniel Michael ATTENDANCE AWARDS 1st Year Chris Fagan, Jake Farrell, Jamie Leahy * 2nd Year Eoin Barnes*, Callum Brierton*, Mark Kennedy, Abdul Ouadria* 3rd Year Chriatian Adizon 4th Year Ciaran Barnes*, Sean Tobin, Shane Anders* 5th Year Daryl Brierton

SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR: Hugh Douglas SOCCER Under 15 Under 17 Senior GAELIC 1st Year Under 14 Junior Senior BASKETBALL Junior Senior

Player of the Year Player of the Year Player of the Year

Cillian Kelly Ross Griffin Hugh Douglas

Player of the Year Player of the Year Player of the Year Player of the Year

James Hanway Padraig Murphy Luke Carroll Gavan Burke

Player of the Year Player of the Year

Vaughn Bongala Paul Dagbay

ARCHERY Junior Archer of the Year CHESS Junior Player of the Year Senior Player of the Year GOLF Senior Golfer of the Year RUGBY Junior Player of the Year Senior Player of the Year SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT Josh O’Rourke and Luke Sheridan 2012

Ross Mitchell Eldhose Alias Owen McNaughton Iain Collins Gareth Collins Cody Newell

S T. B R E N D A N ’S C O L L E G E Y E A R B O O K

Donal Tuohy

STUDENT OF THE WEEK Candidates for this award were nominated and decided upon by staff members. The nomination could have been for any reason including sporting achievements, achievements outside school, voluntary work or for any other reason thought appropriate by staff. The student of the week received a certificate, a small token prize and their picture was displayed on the ‘Student of the Week’ noticeboard for the duration of that week. The winners were: Keith

October 3 October 10 October 17 October 24 November 14 November 21 November 28 December 5 January 9 January 16 January 23 January 30 February 6 February 20 February 27 March 5 March 12 March 19 March 26 April 16 April 23 April 30 May 14

Hugh Douglas Cian Buckley Michael Byrne Nathan Quinn Brennan Sean Plunkett Daryl Brierton Brandon Downey Brook Kinsella Iain Collins Gerard Curran Carl Canoy Gavan Burke Keith O’Reilly Donal Tuohy Sam Carroll Rob McDonald Rian Greene Tommy Kearney Anton Rives Renedo Aaron Vaughan Ger Pender Jack Mannion Sean Tobin Josh O’Rourke Anton Rivas Renedo

Ger Pender

6th Year 4th Year TY 1st Year 6th Year 5th Year 5th Year 5th Year 6th Year 3rd Year 1st Year 6th Year 6th Year TY 2nd Year TY TY TY 1st Year 6th Year 6th Year 5th Year 4th Year 6th Year

O’Reilly

Brandon Downey and Brook Kinsella

Rian Greene

Tommy Kearney

Rob McDonald

Carl Canoy

Sean Plunkett Sean Tobin

Sam Carroll

Gavan Burke Jack Mannion

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S C H O O L

Gerard Curran

Cian Buckley

Michael Byrne

A W A R D S

Technical Graphics and DCG Inspection

Daryl Brierton

The school was thrilled with the report received from the Department of Education and Skills following this year’s TG/DCG subject inspection in the school. The inspector was very impressed and highly commended the teachers, the school and the students on their work in this subject area. He described the TG/DCG facilities as “a high quality teaching and learning environment,” the student’s behaviour as “exemplary” and the teaching to be of an “effective and high standard.” The full report can be accessed on the DES website on www.education.ie.

Nathan Quinn Brennan

X TOOLS LTD L Importers and Wholesalers of Quality Tools and Equipment Hugh Douglas

Iain Collins

Aaron Vaughan

XL TOOLS

In business over 20 years Suppliers of a wide range of tools and equipment to • Schools • Colleges • Industry. 360 Ryevale Lawns, Leixlip, Co. Kildare.

01-6242747 X X Tel:Fax: 01-6245969 L L Email: sales@xltools.ie 2012

S T. B R E N D A N ’S C O L L E G E Y E A R B O O K

6TH YEAR ECOLOGY TRIP or our ecology trip we visited Knocksink Wood to study an oak woodland ecosystem. We carried out some interesting and fun experiments to help us understand the ecosystem. We found a part of the woods which was wide enough to carry out our experiments and also had a mixture of different plant species, trees and possible habitats. We split into groups and began our investigation. One of the experiments we had to do was to investigate what kind of plants grew in the area. To do this we randomly threw a pencil behind us and placed a quadrat over the pencil. We recorded what we could see in each square including the towering tree branches which hung above the quadrat. We obtained a variety of plants and leafage (yes it’s a word, I checked). The results helped us to determine which plants were most common in the area.

By ROSS DALTON 6th Year

Also along the forests ferny floor were creepy crawly creatures which we trapped and observed. Among them were spiders, beetles, worms and centipedes....a nightmarish experiment for entomophobics. We also checked our investigation site for any signs of a habitat. We found a small opening in a tree and inside were empty seed shells which showed signs of a small mouse living under the tree. The mouse was not there however, it was either out getting food for its family or becoming food for a superior consumer’s family... The trip was fun and beneficial. We learned a lot about the type of ecosystem found in an oakwoodland and the complexity of habitats. There was also a perfect example of ‘survival of the fittest’ that I noticed as we left Knocksink as on the side of the road there was a poor, lifeless creature.....which proves that car beats fox anytime!

5TH YEAR TRIP TO BRAY HEAD Mr P Murphy accompanied 5th years to Bray Head as part of their Geography course. A great time was had by all!

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O U T I N G S

6th Year Geography Field Trip n the middle of a very wet November, both 6th year classes embarked on a journey of adventure and enlightenment under the proud leadership of Mr. Murphy and Mr. O’Donoghue. The day was as dreary and wet as any. Spirits were high with the chatting and the laughter on the bus and with our fearless leader Mr. Murphy showing us some By impressively coloured rain gear SEAN TOBIN he had bought in the 1980’s. The 6th Year cold and damp did not cease, even when we reached Glendalough. There we met our friendly English park ranger Iain, who held 20% of our Leaving Certificate examination in his hands. Most of us used this spare time to eat our packed lunch. As we ate, Mr. Murphy fasted like a medieval knight on the eve of battle. He knew something that we did not. When the project finally got underway our bravest companions strapped on pairs of leaky wellies so they could enter the Lugeluff Brook River. There, our team collected a plethora of hugely intriguing geographical data. After what seemed like an eternity in the bitter cold and rain, our job was done - 20% in the bag. When we arrived back to the centre many of us realised our mistake. We were cold and wet and had eaten our lunch as Mr. Murphy emerged from beneath his brightly coloured tarn with a knowing smile. He sat there eating a hot lunch, warm and dry to the bone. At that point he transcended his role as a teacher. To us, he was just as brave and admirable as the geographers before him. Indiana Jones and Lara Croft had fought the elements and won. But Mr Murphy did it, not for fame or fortune, but for our Leaving Cert, and for that we thank him and his technicolour overcoat.

n October 2011, the 5th year students of St. Brendan’s College gathered outside the Mermaid Theatre in Bray to see a performance of the play Macbeth, along with many other schools in Bray. All eyes were on the stage as everyone in the audience was captivated by the powerful voices of the actors. When hundreds of teenagers are packed into a By small theatre together, it can be difficult to keep SHANE FOX, them entertained. However, the play was very 5th Year successful and everybody enjoyed it. The play gave me a deeper insight into the ‘Macbeth’ story, as I could view it from a different angle because of this performance. Overall, it was a great day out for the 5th years of St Brendan’s.

PANIQUE AU VILLAGE ust before Christmas, French classes from the school visited the Mermaid Theatre in Bray along with other local schools for a showing of ‘Panique au Village’ (‘Panic in the Town’) – an animated film through French. It was a lively, funny movie revolving around the comic mishaps and adventures of a toy cowboy, By CALLUM BRIERTON Indian and 2nd Year horse, aptly named Cowboy, Indien and Cheval. The fast paced story gave an insight into the characters. We were all in stitches laughing by the end of the film. It was an enjoyable trip as well as being educational as it was all spoken in French. It was a good day out and I hope we get to experience more days out like it.

1ST YEAR TRIP TO GLENDALOUGH

e were all excited when we heard that we were going on a trip to Glendalough. The only person that was not excited was the person who was in the hospital from playing extreme football! The weather seemed very good but unfortunately, Leinster was in a horrible depression that afternoon, at least that is what I heard in the news. We went on the trip in December 2011 with Mr. Fitzpatrick and Ms. Clancy to study Monasteries in the Middle Ages, which was the topic we were studying in History class. When we got to Glendalough, it was a lovely sunny morning. There, we saw the round tower, the church and a cemetery, which I found creepy. We had our lunch outside even though it was raining. We played football and I got hit by the football and got knocked down, but it was only for a few minutes. Afterwards, we went into the museum and saw great artefacts. We dug up shells and stones from a pile of sand. I loved our trip to Glendalough and I think everyone enjoyed it. I would definitely recommend that people go to Glendalough for the history and the scenery. 2012

By ELDHOSE ALIAS 1st Year S T. B R E N D A N ’S C O L L E G E Y E A R B O O K

By SHAUN DOYLE 6th Year

Our 6th year History class was brought on a three day, two night trip up to “Norn Iron” by Mr. Murphy as an addition to our coursework on the Troubles. We spent two days in Derry sightseeing and learning about the conflict from those involved in it on both sides. On the third day we went to Belfast and toured the Falls Road and Shankill area, as well as the Stormont building, the seat of government in the North. It was a very enjoyable trip and one that will definitely be remembered as one of the most memorable in our time in St. Brendan’s. The trip started off with a bus ride to Derry, with none other than John as our bus driver. We arrived in Derry around midday, and were dropped off at the tourist centre to start. It was here that we met Leo, our guide for the city walls and city itself. We were taken to the Guild Hall, which was built through the patronage of the London guilds responsible for the establishment of the city of Derry. We toured inside, viewing the stained glass art, the architecture and the magnificent organ in the ball room.

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We then proceeded to take a tour around the famous city walls, the last remaining fully intact in Europe. We saw a lot of the cultural divisions in the community here, with kerbstones painted in either the Irish tricolour or the Union Jack. We took some time off the walls to visit St. Columb’s Cathedral, a Protestant stronghold culturally. After this, we went for some lunch in the Diamond, or the city centre. With our stomachs full, we went to the Apprentice Boy’s Hall where we were brought through a guided timeline of their self-bestowed importance in the development of Derry. I personally found the guide to be somewhat eccentric. When he brought us through the various suborganisations in the Apprentice Boys, such as the Black Lodge, he seemed to be more suspicious and untrusting of us (I can’t blame him as I was dressed head to toe in green). With the weather beginning to take a turn for

the worst, we ended the day in Derry city with a bit of shopping in the shopping centre and went back to the Everglades Hotel. The food was excellent and the rooms were surprisingly comfortable, with flatscreen televisions and large, comfy beds. We had a quiz at the end, as well as a bit of craic with Keith providing the musical entertainment for all the hotel guests. We ended the day by retiring to our rooms and getting some well needed sleep. Waking up with an all-you-can-eat breakfast is a great way to start a day. We stuffed ourselves, cleared our rooms and made for the bus back to Derry city. Today, we were going to take a tour around the Bogside and learn about events such as Bloody Sunday and the Civil Rights marches. We were down to take a tour of the murals with the Bogside artists, however they were no longer active so we were instead given a tour by an exI.R.A. member by the name of Eugene.

O U T I N G S

He gave us the background story of both the murals and himself, which proved very interesting. After the tour, we were brought to the Museum of Free Derry. We were given an in-depth account of the massacre of Bloody Sunday, where 14 people, many just our age, were shot in cold blood by British paratroopers. The guide was a very interesting character and a pleasure to speak with. With Derry thoroughly explored, we set off for Belfast, with John the bus driver being the comedian as ever and driving all over the place. We stopped at the Giant’s Causeway where some of us managed to climb out onto the rocks and get as close to Scotland as the giants did all those years ago…. Back

on track, like we were on the way to Belfast, John managed to drive up to the Stormont building thinking it was our hotel. The was great craic as security kindly showed us across the road to our hotel, as well as having the SAS keep a close eye on us. As a bus full of Southern Irish, what could go wrong? After a night of fun and frolic at the Stormont Hotel and an amazing rest in their spectacular beds (they didn’t pay me to advertise, I promise), we were off again for the final day of history and banter in the North. John brought us into the city centre, where we were to meet up with our lovely tour guide, Sue. She was a resident of the Falls/Ardoyne area of Belfast, a noted

nationalist haven. She had us tour the city first, noting buildings of particular interest, including the Europa Hotel, a.k.a the most bombed hotel in the world. We were brought to the Museum of Irish Republicanism, where we got to see artefacts of the struggle for Irish independence including rifles, an RPG, uniforms and paintings. We took off again for a tour of the main secular areas, notably Falls Road, Ardoyne and Shankill Road. In a humorous incident, whilst writing on the peace wall on the Shankill side, I was subject to verbal abuse from a passing motorist. While Mr. Meyler risked life and limb to get a few snapshots of some murals in Shankill, and while we toured the areas learning a lot more about the history as it was experienced first-hand, I couldn’t help but feel like I was going to really miss the North. Bidding farewell to our guide, we decided to finish up on the historical side of things and visited Stormont building (again) for a brief yet not-soinformative trip. Leaving that, we decided to bribe John with a can of Guinness to bring us on a stop to Newry where we enjoyed the last hour of our Northern Irish trip. In the end, it was a trip enjoyed by all, and one that won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

2012

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‘SCHOOL SPIRIT WEEK’ was held in the school from Monday October 24th to Friday October 28th 2011. The objective of the week was to give students and staff an opportunity to bond together and participate in various activities outside of the normal classroom environment. Ms McCann and the Pastoral Care team prepared a programme of events. Most of these took place during lunch time, although some were organised as part of classroom activity. Some were fun events whilst others involved raising money for those less fortunate than ourselves. All-in-all, the week was very successful and did achieve the objective of creating a good bond between the students and a good atmosphere in the school. The events during ‘Sprit Week’ included: ● A film show ● Beatles Tribute Show ● Judo/kickboxing demonstration for 2nd year ● Darts tournament for 6th years students ● Non-uniform day ● A Maths quiz for 1st year students ● Two cake sales organised by the 2nd and 3rd year ● A staff versus 5th years soccer match students which raised €550 for Barnardos and Laura ● Spirit Week Music Concert Lynn Foundation

POETRY COMPETITION As part of Spirit Week, Ms McCann organised a poetry writing competition. Students were asked to write a poem on the topic ‘My School’. There was a lot of interest in the competition which produced some excellent young poets. The winning poems were written by Liam PrenterMorris, 2nd year and Ross Dalton, 6th year (pictured left to right.

MY SCHOOL DAYS by ROSS DALTON, 6th Year How many buildings hold futures? Very few according to some. I tried to count on my hand, But all I could raise was my thumb. A haven for young adolescents, An educators chance to impart knowledge. Opportunities await those willing to learn, To gain access to one’s ideal college.

Long halls seem tedious and narrow, But lead to futures which are simple and broad. An educated future is a bright one But an uneducated one is flawed. There are tests of creativity, Sport can bring fame and glory With language comes National identity All of these can write a life story The future you want begins here

Each time you walk through the gates Every classroom and lesson holds benefits And determines what your future awaits. Because years from now you’ll look back, As it is kind of an unspoken rule. Although you won’t want to admit it, You will owe your success to your school.

MY SCHOOL by LIAM PRENTER-MORRIS, 2nd Year I am educated I am strong I am fearful But I’m not wrong

Ms O’Gorman does Maths, a difficult subject it may be But with Ms O’Gorman on your side you’ll never fail to see Algebra is tough but Ms O’Gorman makes it easier Unfortunately her jokes constantly get cheesier.

I spend my youth in a small classroom Expanding my mind as I ask can I go to the bathroom As I sit with my classmates who constantly ask questions With Jack Doyle Ms, Ms, Sir, Sir, or even Luke (The Mexican)

Mr Fitzpatrick, my coach to a sport I love, The adrenalin, the rush, the speed of the ball as he pump-fakeshove He’s always been there through thick and thin It’s a shame he thinks footballs a sin.

Jack Doyle, a friend, a classmate, his nickname is Smurf. Symbolising his size as he commands his turf. For a man of his size he sure can talk, Question upon question like a bird with a constant squawk. I exit the class staring at the lockers of death. As the peers filed in I took a deep breath. I opened my locker to the never-ending shelves The struggle to reach, it felt like hell I talked to my friends awaiting break to pass I said to myself, Science, yes what a class. A proud Scotsman by the name of Mr Black was my teacher. A fine teacher he was but boy was he a screecher. I’m joking when I say that he’s really a pleasant man, Although unfortunate that it is, he’s a Man United fan 60

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Mr Bergin, a man who looks to be unstoppable, Although he finds it humorous to slag me as much as possible. The friendship between us is a strange one, It’s difficult to say, its either serious or fun. Ms McCann, my genuine Art teacher She likes to work, says I’m an elegant speaker She showed me how to draw faces along with expressions, Amazingly she taught me this in just one session Finally Ms Shiely who’s teachings a treasure. Any lesson with her is surely a pleasure. She makes learning the easiest, the funniest, the best Her few words are to give you info, you do the rest.

S P I R I T

W E E K

PARTICIPANTS From TY: Michael Byrne, Cormac Kelly, Jason Kinlan, Ben McGrotty, Niall O’Leary, Seán Tobin, Donal Tuohy, Anthony Quill, Rick Walshe. From 5th Year: Emmet Stokes, Brandon Downey, Nathan Johnson, Brook Kinsella, Janis Franckevics, Daniel Michael, Craig Whelan, From 6th Year: Owen McNaughton, Chris Carroll, Keith O’Reilly, Josh O’Rourke Staff Members: Mr Brian McDonald, Mr Gareth Fitzpatrick, Ms Amy O’Neill, Ms Angela Dwane and Ms Áine O’Gorman

2012

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SPIRIT WEEK CHARITY FUNDRAISERS

Nathan Clucas and Josh Drew make a presentation to Barnardos.

Ryan Smith and Allexis Alvarico make a presentation to the Laura Lynn Foundation.

SEACHTAIN NA GAEILGE 2012 hí seachtain na Gaeilge ar súil in ár scoil ó 5ú go dtí an 17ú Márta. Bhí daltaí na h-idirbliana anghnóthach ar feadh roinnt seachtaine roimh ré ag úllmhú dó. Eagraíodh imeachtaí eagsúla do gach bhliain, mar shampla, tráth na

gceist don seú agus an triú bliain, cluiche peile don chúigiu bliain agus an dara bhliain agus tóraíocht taisce don chéad bhliain. Leabhair an príomhoide Mr Taylor as gaeilge gach maidin ar an idirchum. D’fhoghlamar agus labhríomar a lán

gaeilge an seachtain sin. Bhí maisiucháin, balúin agus postaeir ar chrochadh ar fud na scoile. Bhain na daltaí sult as na himeachtaí go léir agus táimid ag tnuth go mór le Seachtain na Gaeilge 2013. Buíochas mór le Ms Lynn.

BUDDY SYSTEM St. Brendan’s College continues to sponsor three boys in Nepal… his is the third year in a row that St. Brendan’s College has sponsored three young boys in Nepal and thus enabling them to continue with their education. The boys are attending River Dale School in Pokhara, which is located in the foothills of the Himalayas in Nepal. The boys of St Brendan’s were involved in a non-uniform day arranged by Ms Russell-Klein. The proceeds of this were sent directly to the principal of the Nepalese boy’s school and were used directly in their schooling. This valuable contribution is what makes the difference in these young boy’s lives. Well done to Ms Russell-Klein and the students of St Brendan’s College for supporting these boys and their education.

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t. Brendan’s introduced a ‘Buddy’ system this year, whereby our new 1st year students were helped through their first year in secondary school by a 5th year student known as a ‘Buddy’. The 5th year students all received training at the beginning of the year. Their role was to help the student adapt to secondary school, as well as being there for them if they had any problems or difficulties. The system was a great success and before Christmas, Ms. Coffey, the coordinator of the programme, organised a number of games between 1st years and their ‘buddies’. These activities included a quiz, dodge ball and an X-Box challenge. In May this year, Mr. J. Murphy, Mr. Ryan and Mr. Bergin accompanied all of the first years and their fifth year buddies on a walk from The Scalp in the Dublin Mountains to Shankill in the beautiful sunshine. A great time was had by all.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

would like to say a sincere ‘THANK YOU’ to all who contributed to the production of St. Brendan’s College Yearbook 2012. So many activities occur during the school year and it is important to document and celebrate these achievements. The contribution of articles and photographs from both staff and students are key to the success of this yearbook and all efforts are greatly appreciated. A big thank you also to our TY photographers, Donal Tuohy and Daniel Tilley, to Jordan Carr (TY) for all of his help in typing up articles, to Joy Burke when I was in need of help and advice, and to our Principal, Mr John Taylor, for his impeccable record of all the events that took place in St. Brendan’s College throughout the year! ÁINE O’GORMAN

M I S C E L L A N E O U S

he Parent’s Association organised a wonderful Christmas night in the school hall in December 2011 called ‘A Taste of Christmas’. The evening consisted of a festive cookery demonstration, a fashion show, a raffle, Christmas carols as well as a large number of Christmas market stalls featuring local traders and Transition Year mini-companies. There was a large turnout on the night and a lot of good bargains and ideas were had by all. Well done to Majella Quinlan and the rest of the committee for their great work. Next year they hope to run a much bigger affair. One of the highlights of the night was a performance by the school choir/band of all our favourite Christmas carols. The lead singer and musician Keith O’Reilly (6th year) was ably assisted by the following students: Owen McNaughton, Luckasz Nowicki, Emmet Stokes, Nathan Johnson, Daniel Michael, Cormac Kelly, Michael Byrne, Donal Tuohy, Niall O’Leary, Rob McDonald, Anthony Quill, Daniel Tilley, Seán Tobin, Rick Walshe, Jason Kinlan, Aaron Cahill and Ben McGrotty.

BY Mr BRIAN MCDONALD his year St Brendan’s boasted a large and talented group of musicians which allowed for the staging of the first ‘Battle of the Bands’ in five years. Seven acts in total performed and displayed their talents and musicianship to an audience in excess of one hundred people. Three judges from different areas of the music industry were given the onerous task of choosing a winner from an array of talent. Students from 1st to 6th year entertained the audience during their allotted fifteen minute time-slot after which Keith O’Reilly (pictured right) was awarded the winning prize. This was a €250 gift voucher kindly sponsored by Everest Music and a day’s recording in a studio with professional sound engineers and a production team. The event was an enormous success and will undoubtedly pave the way for further musical events and competitions.

2012

S T. B R E N D A N ’S C O L L E G E Y E A R B O O K

Jack Kennedy

n March 2012, I auditioned for Drama Performance in The Liberties College, Bull Alley – an audition which lasted for six and half hours. I have a huge interest in drama and have been involved in drama outside of school for many years. I also want to find a career that I will enjoy, and after years of performing with my local drama group, I knew this was what I want to do. There were four judges on the panel: Neville Style, Alan Kinsella, Leonard Hayden (Directors) and Brian Daly, who is involved in voice management. For my audition, I had to prepare a monologue from either a contemporary or classical piece. I chose a contemporary piece as I felt I could understand it better and put a lot more meaning into my audition. The singing audition was first and after twenty minutes preparing the song, Neville Style called out small groups of people at random. It was nerve wracking, but I knew I had to give it my all if I wanted to make a good first impression. After the singing audition, dialogue was next. We were given a few minutes with a partner to prepare the piece which we were to perform for the judges. Afterwards, we were put into groups of six and we were given one word with which we were to prepare a short improvisation. Our word was ‘dark’ and after about twenty minutes of preparing, we performed our piece. After a short break we were called in to perform the monologue. When it was my turn to go in I was very confident, but I didn't want to get too ahead of myself. When my piece was finished, the main judge, Neville Style, had a smile on his face and told me “we'll let you know over the next few days.” I was confident I was going to get a place but couldn’t be sure because of how talented the other candidates were. I had done my best and that was all I could do. The following Monday, I received a call and I was offered a place for September 2012. They said they were very impressed with what they saw and that they can see a lot of potential. This will make me more confident in my performances in the future. I'm now looking forward to studying drama performance in the college and hopefully I will be able to pursue a career in this field when I complete my course. S T. B R E N D A N ’S C O L L E G E Y E A R B O O K

hen I first arrived in St. Brendan’s, I was unsure of who I was and who I wanted to be. However, during one of the infamous St. Brendan’s free classes (which have long since gone), Hans Zimmer Ratty brought in ‘School of Rock’. I had watched it a couple of times before, but it hit me this time. I wanted to play guitar. When I arrived home, I immediately retrieved my old guitar that had gathered layers of dust. I had a few guitar lessons in my younger years. My neighbour tuned it and away I was. I taught myself all of the chords. In late 2010, I began to write my own songs, along with learning the piano and harmonica as well. I wrote my first song ‘The Day We Lost Our Sovereignty’ about the budget and the recession. It is one of my main staples whenever I play around. I have played in Dublin City in the Sugar Club and the Workman’s Club, The Harbour Bar and The Martello in Bray, Kildare and many more places around. I have entered many competitions that I went on to win. I have played in events in the school including the Christmas Concert and Graduation 2011. I will be playing in Wales in August. I play guitar, harmonica and sing and I have written over thirty songs. I hope to get into BIMM to do the Commercial Modern Music Course with a focus on song writing. I am still writing and playing and will continue to do so for as long as I live.

Rhys Gorman

2012

- 6th Year

ugh Douglas has been showcasing his talent for football in a very busy year. In 2011, he was asked to sign for the UCD AFC first team who partook in the Airtricity League of Ireland. He went on to sign a two-year contract that June. In the same year, he played for the Republic of Ireland schools in the Centenary Shield which included matches against England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. His match against England was broadcast live on Sky Sports. Hugh said: “I broke into the UCD first team and earned a regular starting position towards the end of the 2011 League of Ireland season. One of my highlights that year was playing live on RTE for UCD against Shamrock Rovers’. Hugh was also captain for UCD’s under-19 squad who played in the Airtricity U19 Elite League of Ireland. He won the 2011 FAI International Schools Player of the Year at the annual FAI Awards which were broadcast live on RTE. He continued to play for UCD at the highest level of football in Ireland and he received a standby call to the Republic of Ireland under-19 squad for the European Championships in Estonia. In March 2012, the new 2012 Airtricity League of Ireland season began and he continued to play regular first team football after a tough pre-season. Both staff and students of St. Brendan’s College are extremely proud of Hugh’s achievements and we wish him the very best of luck in his future.

Ger Pender - 6th Year Seán Plunkett - 6th Year Ross Griffin - 5th Year

- 6th Year

hen I was sixteen years old, I signed for Shamrock Rovers after the DDSL ended. The league joined the UEFA age limitations and I found myself in the under18 category. That was when I decided to go to Shamrock Rovers. I joined just in time to travel with the U-18 squad to Italy to play against teams such as Fiorentina, Parma and Roma. Because of good performances I was picked as captain before the league started. Through continuous assessment and good progress, I was asked to join the U-19 squad. Unfortunately, I could not play games as I had previously signed for the U18 squad. Because of this, I was limited to training with the U-19 and playing for the U-18 team I currently captain. I have been included in the upcoming season’s U-19 squad, now known as the Reserves, due to the loss of the infamous U-21 Eircom (now the Airtricity) League. It is a National Airtricity League and includes all of the top teams in Ireland such as Cork City, UCD, Bray Wanderers, St. Pat’s and our rivals Bohemians. I hope to further my progress and some day play for the first team.

Hugh Douglas

Keith O’Reilly - 6th Year

- 6th Year

er Pender and Seán Plunkett, both signed for Bray Wanderers from top Dublin sides - Belvedere FC and Crumlin United. Ross Griffin also joined the under-19 side for Bray Wanderers last July 2011. Ross signed for the first team in March 2012. He has played many matches and has had goal success. He is enjoying his experience with Bray Wanderers. Seán signed for the club in March 2011 and helped the reserve side, along with Ross, to win the ‘A’ Championship in July 2011. He quickly proved himself as a stand out player for the reserves and was soon signed for the first team and under-19’s in February 2012, when he made his debut in a preseason friendly against Wayside Celtic. Ger signed for Bray in June 2011 and like Seán and Ross, helped the reserve team win the league. He signed for the first team and under-19’s in December 2011 and made his competitive debut for the first team in March 2012 against Longford Town in a Leinster Senior Cup game. Ger and Seán also played in the pre-season friendly against Liverpool F.C. in July 2011 which was played in front of four thousand people at the Carlisle Grounds. Following the end of their under-19 league, Ger and Seán now have a long, hard season ahead of them with the first team in the Airtricity Premier Division.

COLLEGE

Yearbook 2012 WOODBROOK, BRAY, CO. WICKLOW. PH: 01-2822317. FAX: 01-2822616