Competition success for St Mary’s students

European Final in Statistics Competition: Well done to Transition Year Mathematics students Holly Whelan and Nicole Murphy of St Mary’s Secondary School Nenagh, who recently came third out of 227 entries in the John Hooper National Statistics Competition 2022 for their poster ‘How to write a chart-topping piece of music’.

The John Hooper Statistical poster competition is one of Ireland's most respected and prestigious schools’ competitions and is named after the first director of statistics of the Irish Free State. The competition is run annually and provides an outstanding opportunity for students across the island of Ireland to showcase their data analytical and interpretation skills. As the highest ranked poster in the Senior category in 2022 Holly and Nicole are now going forward to represent Ireland in the 16 – 18 age category in the European Statistics Competition final. The European phase entails making a video on this year’s topic the Environment and Statistics with results in June and an awards ceremony taking place in Madrid, Spain.

Well done: Also, congratulations to Mathematics student Emilija Griesle who reached the final eight out of 105 entries in the Construction Industry Federation Design a Home 2022 competition with the brief to ‘plan, design and market a new residential development that is environmentally friendly’.

Outdoor Fun in Kilfinane: Last week Transition Year students went on an overnight trip to the Outdoor Education Centre in Kilfinane, writes Katie Brett. The trip was split into two groups over four days.

While on this trip students got the opportunity to do lots of activities such as kayaking, indoor rock climbing, mountain biking and archery.

One of the most enjoyable activities was kayaking on the Lough Gur. Fun games were incorporated as the students learned the basic skills of kayaking and a fun swim in the lake was allowed afterwards.

Another great activity was mountain biking as this was a new experience for most students. Students got the chance to learn some of the skills of mountain biking before ascending into the forest for a steep uphill cycle. This was enjoyed greatly by most students.

It was also very exciting to be able to spend the night at the centre in dorms with friends. There were lots of activities in the common rooms such as pool and table tennis and there was also a TV room where all the students staying the night gathered together to watch a movie.

Overall it was a great and memorable experience along with being one of the best trips enjoyed by Transition Years this term.