Local schools take part in STEM Education initiative
Image 1 of 3
Up to 100 students and teachers from 16 schools and 21 projects from across Munster vied for the prestigious 2025 BD STEM Stars competition at the BD RCI site, Castletroy, Limerick at the weekend. Among the finalists were Demi Watson and Grace Clarke, Borrisokane Community College. Photos: Arthur Ellis ArthurEllisPhotographyImage 2 of 3
St Joseph’s College, Borrisoleigh, students were finalists in the competition - from left: Saoirse Ryan, Aisling Kennedy, Aileen Moroney and Sarah Gleeson with their project Care Track. ArthurEllisPhotographyImage 3 of 3
Among the finalists were Borrisokane Community College students, from left: Lilly O’Neill, Clara Slattery and Kate Muehllhausen. ArthurEllisPhotographyBD has reinforced its commitment to fostering support for Ireland’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education promotion policy with a record number of entries for its ‘BD’s STEM Stars held last week in Limerick.
Some 60 plus projects were entered this year for the competition, with 23 making the finals, including three from North Tipp schools, two from Borrisokane Community School and one from St Joseph’s College, Borrisoleigh.
The biggest such event for schools across Munster, the 2025 BD STEM Stars overall title was claimed by Mungret Community College, Co Limerick, who received a prize of €10,000 for STEM facilities in their school for their project ‘Independent Me’ - a home-healthcare device to support people in the early stages of Alzheimer's in remembering key daily tasks.
BD STEM Stars organiser, Fionnagh Tsang, said: “The STEM policy commenced in 2017 talks about children being natural innovators and that’s exactly what we are seeing as year on year we’ve been blown away by the standard of entries.”
The BD STEM Stars competition was launched six years ago by BD to promote and encourage participation in STEM subjects for second level students. The brief given to students was to devise solutions that positively impact and advance the world of healthcare. The programme aligns with Ireland’s government programme launched in 2017 to promote STEM education.
Minister of State for Older People at the Department of Health and Housing, Kieran O’Donnell, was on hand to witness what he described as a “festival of innovation” and commended BD Research Centre Ireland (RCI) for its great initiative in hosting the competition.BD RCI Site Lead, Sean Wall, said that the growth of the BD STEM Stars competition reflects the growth of interest in STEM subjects. “What we’ve seen over the years with our BD STEM Stars programme confirms the impact that STEM Education Policy, and significant funding committed to promoting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics subjects are having,” said Mr Wall. “The students are constantly raising the bar in terms of the ideas they are bringing to the table for overcoming unmet challenges in healthcare, which fits with our ethos of ‘advancing the world of health’, and that’s what these students are seeking to do with their projects.”
Approximately 100 students and teachers from 16 schools attended the BD Research Centre Ireland facility at the National Technology Park in Castletroy, Limerick for the final.BD RCI is a state-of-the-art facility adjacent to the University of Limerick campus that develops innovative technologies to improve biomedical discovery, clinical diagnosis of disease, and the delivery of care for patients and health care workers.
FURTHER DETAILS
To find out more about the BD STEM Stars programme and participants, visit https://www.bd.com/en-uk/about-bd/bd-stem-stars.