YSI
What YSI is About
YSI is about getting the young people of our society involved. This is achieved by the YSI group tackling issues within their societies and local areas and trying to make an impact on improving the situation. This year, our YSI group "Daoine Gan Dídean", have chosen to do our project on the issue of homelessness. We chose this topic after hearing of 2 or 3 deaths of homeless people in our local area.
"At the heart of the Young Social Innovators programme is the development of active, creative citizens. And it is active, creative citizens who will lead the transformation of Ireland. As President of Ireland I pay tribute to each one of you that responded so positively to the invitation to stretch and strengthen your leadership potential by becoming involved with this initiative." - Michael, D. Higgins.
Peter McVerry
This year our YSI group in school have decided to tackle the problem of homelessness in our society as it's becoming a big issue. To help raise awareness and give us a little more insight into the troubles of homelessness, we had a speaker from Peter McVerry Trust come in and talk to us. Frances Doherty, who works with the charity, was kind enough to come in and give us a bit of his time to talk about homelessness.
He started off by telling us a little bit about what the charity do for the homeless and how they go about tackling the issue. He then gave us some facts and statistics on the homeless crisis going on in Ireland. After telling us everything we needed to know, we then asked Frances some questions we had prepared before hand. He was very informative in his answers and even gave us some suggestions on what practical things we, as a group, could do to tackle the issue of homelessness in our local areas.
He started off by telling us a little bit about what the charity do for the homeless and how they go about tackling the issue. He then gave us some facts and statistics on the homeless crisis going on in Ireland. After telling us everything we needed to know, we then asked Frances some questions we had prepared before hand. He was very informative in his answers and even gave us some suggestions on what practical things we, as a group, could do to tackle the issue of homelessness in our local areas.
Tiglin
In our work to help fight homelessness in our community, we had three people from the Tiglin organisation come in and talk to us. They all shared their stories with us in what they do to help the homeless. We were amazed by the amount of practical work they did. One of the speakers, John, was previously homeless. He told us of his struggles and how he ended up on the streets, homeless, at the age of 19. He told us of his heroine addiction and all the work Tiglin has done to help him. He is now off heroine and back on his feet. His story moved us all and we asked if they would come back in to talk to the other year groups in our school to help raise awareness about homelessness.
Dignity Bags
As part of our YSI project to tackle the issue of homelessness, our group organised a "Dignity Pack" with the Tiglin foundation. Earlier on in the month three speakers from Tiglin came in to give us a talk on homelessness. This talk was different to any other we had had before. Two of the three speakers have previously been homeless. One of the speakers, John, talked to us about his life and how he found himself to be homeless. This story touched the hearts of us all and really motivated to do something practical to fight homelessness. As a result, we came up with the idea to do Dignity Bags. One of the girls in the group, Charlotte, had a contract with one of the ladies who organises these dignity bags. We talked to the year heads in our school to encourage their year to bring in items. We got loads of donations and filled over 200 bags and delivered them to Tiglin who then gave them out to the homeless. It was a really successful project and were all delighted it was such a success.
YSI Speak Out
Each YSI group in the country is asked to come to a speak out towards the end of the year. The idea of the speak out is that each group is given a chance to perform a two minute play/talk explaining what their topic was for YSI and what they have done this year in aid of their topic of choice.
The girls in our YSI group came up with an excellent little sketch to represent societies outlook on homelessness and how we need to change this. Ben Hogan and I introduced the piece, explaining to the audience who we were and what our topic was about. We then closed the piece with some information on what charities we had been in touch with throughout the year and the work we had done for them.
Everyone did a fantastic job to work together and perform a really moving piece. It was a great success and a very enjoyable day.
The girls in our YSI group came up with an excellent little sketch to represent societies outlook on homelessness and how we need to change this. Ben Hogan and I introduced the piece, explaining to the audience who we were and what our topic was about. We then closed the piece with some information on what charities we had been in touch with throughout the year and the work we had done for them.
Everyone did a fantastic job to work together and perform a really moving piece. It was a great success and a very enjoyable day.
Hockey
This year for my physical recreational activity in Gaisce, I chose to do hockey. I started off the year trying out as a goal as it was a position I had never played before and I was looking to challenge myself and try new things. After a while, I realised it wasn't for me. I resumed to my position if forward and continued in the position for the rest of the year. Playing hockey this year gave me the chance to get to know people in the other years better and showed me the importance of team work. I had a lot of fun and really enjoyed it.
Drama
A Woman of No Importance
Back in November, our drama teacher, Ms. Carney, brought us to see a live screening of Oscar Wilde's "A Woman of No Importance". It was a very appropriate play to go see as later in the year we would be performing "The Importance of Being Earnest", another play written by the talented Oscar Wilde. The actors, production and overall play itself were all exceptional. It was a lovely outing and certainly made me excited to put on our production of "The Importance of Being Earnest".
The Importance Of Being Earnest
Most years in drama we perform a one act play. However, this year our drama teacher decided to do a full play with us. The play chosen was "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde.
This play is a three act play. As a result of having more members in our drama group than characters in the play, we had to split some of the characters between their acts. I was given the role of Cecily Cardew whom I shared with Abbie. I played Cecily in Act Two and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.
We had most of our rehearsals during the Easter break. After, we were up in rehearsals every Thursday as usual, and weekend until the show. It was a lot of hard work as there were many lines to learn and the language proved challenging at times.
In the days coming up to the show we all helped to put the set together. I spent three or four days painting a garden scene on a big board for the set in Act Two (this can be seen under the "Art" section on "The Projects and Assignments" page). It took a lot of work and patience but was definitely worth it as it added to the atmosphere of the scene.
We performed our play on the 23rd and 24th of April. We put on a matinee each day for the students and an evening show for the parents. The play went extremely well and it was evident that all our hard work had payed off.
This play is a three act play. As a result of having more members in our drama group than characters in the play, we had to split some of the characters between their acts. I was given the role of Cecily Cardew whom I shared with Abbie. I played Cecily in Act Two and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.
We had most of our rehearsals during the Easter break. After, we were up in rehearsals every Thursday as usual, and weekend until the show. It was a lot of hard work as there were many lines to learn and the language proved challenging at times.
In the days coming up to the show we all helped to put the set together. I spent three or four days painting a garden scene on a big board for the set in Act Two (this can be seen under the "Art" section on "The Projects and Assignments" page). It took a lot of work and patience but was definitely worth it as it added to the atmosphere of the scene.
We performed our play on the 23rd and 24th of April. We put on a matinee each day for the students and an evening show for the parents. The play went extremely well and it was evident that all our hard work had payed off.