Tag Archives: Mean Scoil Nua Leigh Triuigh

Castlegregory School Students Win Two National Awards

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Darren Smith, Hugh Crean (left), with Kevin O’Donnell, Mary Hennessy and Mikey Moynihan, all students from Mean Scoil Nua an Leith Triuigh in Castlegregory, won the ‘Senior ECO-Community Development Award’ at the Young Environmentalist Awards in the Royal Convention Centre last week. Photo: Michelle Breen Crean Photography

MEÁN Scoil Nua an Leith Triuigh students came home victorious winning two national awards at the Eco-UNESCO Young Environmentalist Awards ceremony which was held at the Royal Convention Centre in Dublin on Wednesday May 15.

Fixing Fashion, Cop Castlegregory, Solar Soldiers and Eco-Empire-Expanded were chosen and invited to showcase their projects at the event and present to a panel of judges on the day.

250 projects entered the competition last October, and 150 were shortlisted after the semi-finals and invited to attend the national finals in Dublin. There were 12 categories, and a Junior and Senior winner in each category.

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Ms O’Dowd who helped the students prepare for the competition revealed, ‘two of our teams came first in the senior category, and we are so proud of their achievements’.

Katie Crean, Ciara Ferriter, Ciara Butler, Emma Garvey, Stephanie Reid, Reuben Wall, Daniel O’Mahony and Charlie Gillan came home with the senior award for Fixing Fashion.

Students from Mean Scoil Nua an Leith Triuigh in Castlegregory, Emma Garvey, Ciara Butler, Ciara Ferriter, Stephanie Reid and Katie Crean, are national award winners after successfully taking the ‘Senior Waste Award’ title with their ‘Fixing Fashion’ project at the Young Environmentalist Awards in the Royal Convention Centre, Dublin last week. Photo: Michelle Breen Crean Photography

Ms O’Dowd explained that the group spent the past year holding swap shops in school and raising awareness about fast fashion and the harmful impact for our environment. They also held a shoe-drive in which they collected pre-loved shoes for export for children in Africa.

Agricultural science teacher, Mr. Begley, commended the students for their dedication and commitment to sustainability and conservation.

Hugh Crean, Darren Smith, Dylan Harrington, Kevin O’Donnell, Mary Francis Hennessy, Michael Moynihan, Luke Power and Calvin Griffin won the senior award for Eco-Community Development.

This past year the students have built a pond for wildlife, secured a container to store all of our gardening equipment and they took care of the polytunnel, repairing storm damage and adding three raised beds for ease of use for students to grow vegetables.

Solar Soldiers and Cop Castlegregory were also finalists at the awards and represented the school and themselves on the national stage with confidence and poise.

Solar Soldiers made up of Lucy Finn, Máire Flynn, Alanah Whelan, Kelly O’Connor, and Lily O’Connor, Ronan Harty, Abbie O’Neill and Caoimhe Ní Shuilleabhain secured the first batch of solar panels for our school, while Cop Castlegregory, Chloe Fitzgerald, Saoirse McCarthy and Anna Roberts advised local businesses on how to become more environmentally friendly by introducing new initiatives and ideas to their premises.

Principal, Ms Karen Blennerhassett pointed out the significance of the win. “We are a small school in rural West Kerry, and yet we came home with two out of 12 senior titles in a competition which was open to the entire island of Ireland. The work that went on this year and the variety of projects just shows the passion and dedication of our students and our teaching staff, who go above and beyond the call of duty for our students. Our school is small but has a big heart and soul. Our students have shown true diligence and passion for our environment, and the future is very bright for these young individuals.”

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West Kerry School Students Compete For Young Environmentalists Award

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Transition Year students from Mean Scoil Nua an Leith Triuigh (MSLT) in Castlegregory have made it to the semi-finals of the Young Environmentalists Awards 2024 taking place next month. Pictured were: Ciara Butler, Charlie Gillan, Emma Garvey, Daniel O’Mahony, Stephanie Reid, Reuben Wall and Katie Crean. Photo: Michelle Breen Crean Photography

By Michelle Breen Crean

FIXING fast fashion is firmly on the minds of young West Kerry students who have made it to the semi-final of the Young Environmentalists Awards next month.

Eight Transition Year students from Mean Scoil Nua an Leith Triuigh (MSLT) in Castlegregory want to create awareness about this huge global issue.

During their research they became concerned about the impact that cheap low quality clothing items – which go out of fashion within weeks due to fast changing trends – is having on the environment when worn just once and then binned.

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Their idea is to take action by making the local community aware of the problem and encourage people to re-wear their clothing many times over as well as educate them on ways to take better care of them.

“We are a Young Environmentalists Award 2024 group called ‘Fixing Fashion’ who are aiming to make our local community aware of the fast fashion problem,” Katie Crean, who is a member of the group, said.

Transition Year students and staff from Mean Scoil Nua an Leith Triuigh (MSLT) in Castlegregory pictured with their Principal Karen Blennerhassett, and Peadar O Fionnain and Diarmuid Griffin from the Green Party who recently visited the school to speak to students about environmental issues. The students are taking part in the Young Environmentalists Awards 2024. Photo: Michelle Breen Crean Photography

The group of students involved in the project includes Katie, as well as Emma Garvey, Ciara Ferriter, Ciara Butler, Reuben Wall, Daniel O’Mahony, Stephanie Reid and Charlie Gillan.

“We have been dedicating our time to the project over the last few months,” Katie added.

But how were they inspired?

“Last year the ‘Habitat Heroes’ and ‘Eco Empire’ groups from our school were very successful in the Young Environmentalists Awards.

“This year our group of eight had a common interest in fast fashion so we decided to do some research on it. We were shocked by how much waste there was worldwide and decided that we wanted to make people aware of this, both in our local and school communities.

“We were inspired and guided by our principal Karen Blennerhassett and our Agricultural Science teacher Ilona O’Dowd.”

From there the students stepped up their campaign by bringing it to an online audience to create a campaign about their project.

“We are posting very frequently on our Instagram and TikTok platforms, where we are raising awareness with informative but catchy posts about this world problem.

“In our school community we are getting the message across by putting posters up around the school halls, sending emails to parents, staff and students, while also setting up monthly ‘Swap Shops’.

“Swap Shops were new to the school and have turned out to be a great success. We have collected unwanted clothes from students, staff and the public which we are selling for €2 each. This money will then be donated to St Vincent de Paul (SVP) at the end of our school year. Any clothes left over will be donated to local charity shops also. Along with these ‘Swap Shops’, we have showcased presentations for other classes and organised two guest speakers for our own Transition Year class which included Peadar O Fionnain and  Diarmuid Griffin from the Green Party.”

Recently they came in to hear all about the multiple projects in the class including – ‘Solar Soldiers’, ‘Eco Empire Expanded’ and ‘Cop Castlegregory’.

You can check them out on TikTok: @fixing.fashion or Instagram @fixingfashionty for more information.

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