YSI Event

Students had to submit a project 'Let’s Get Greener' in March on the efforts they made in their school and community on bringing about awareness on Recycling, Litter and the Environment. Below are examples on how they brought environmental awareness at Mercy College.

• Recycling competitions
• Litter surveys
• Increased recycling facilities in the school
• Set up the Mercy Challenge puzzle for students at lunchtimes
• Wrote a report on Electrical recycling
• Wrote the YSI Report on our 'Let’s Get Greener' Campaign
• Encouraged students to recycle batteries
• Sold WEEE recycling bags at lunchtimes
• Invited guest speakers from environmental organisations to speak at Mercy College (Eco Unesco, Dublin Waste Management, Environmental Protection Agency, Repak and Green Schools Programme).

They were invited to attend a YSI Speak out at the Helix, DCU, Dublin in March against hundreds of other schools in Leinster. This was a chance for the girls to display their knowledge on the topic in a creative way on stage for 2 mins.The speakout gives young people a platform to talk about and communicate social issues in creative ways to an audience of peers and local people.
We were successful in making it through to the YSI Final Showcase 2011 at CityWest Hotel on Wednesday 11th May. Once again the girls were asked to perform in a creative way for 3mins with an extra 3mins of questions from the judges. The girls performed their sketch 'The Green Green Show' on stage in front of hundreds of students. In our category 'Making our World Greener' we were against stiff competition from schools in Galway, Limerick and Louth. However, despite the tough competition, the girls were impeccable on stage getting their message about the environment across to the audience. After some challenging questions from the judges, the girls were able to relax for the rest of the day.
That evening at 5pm, the students waited in anticipation as they called out our category ''Making our World Greener' and gave a little introduction on our project finally announcing 'Let’s Get Greener' from Mercy College Coolock the winners.
It was such a great feeling, full of excitement the girls ran to the stage to collect their well deserved trophy.
Well done transition years from 4.2 for making it through to the YSI Final Showcase 2011. The following students performed at the Final Showcase - Amy McGrath, Nadine Duffy, Hannah Freeman, Katie Kelly, Kelly Callan, Jade Deegan, Lauren MCabe, Sinead O' Beirne, Aoife Redmond.

MS Scully