Concern Debaters

Adrenaline junkies. That's what Debaters really are. We go through weeks of intenstive preparation, night after night, researching obscure topcs and at least four or five rewrites of the original speech. And why? For those three minutes and fifteen seconds of raising awareness about topical issues (while really wiping the floor with the other team).

Dont get me wrong, debating made me want to scream at times! Days when my speech wasnt good enough or when we had to read the same speech in front of the same class again or I was just not in the mood. Being a fifty year student and Concern Debater is stressful to say the least.

I loved nearly minute of it though. Our team became really close because of the amount of time we spent together - not just the debaters but the researchers aswell. As well as that, it really honed my speech-writing skills, along with my confidence. I was never shy to begin with but speaking in front of peers, strangers and adjudicators gets rid of any insecurities. Once behind the podium hthere's no room for uncertainty - everyone needs to believe you, including youself. For me the debates really opened my eyes to a lot of wrongs going on in our world. One of our debates was about Haiti. Until then I had no idea that people were still suffering. Another was about child labour being a necessity. I never thought that I would ever in a million years agaree with that statement.

Debating has been a rollercoaster of ups and downs. It is hard work but it is truly worth it. If you're thinking about tryin out, don tell yourself you can't. If you don't try, you'll miss out. This was my last time with Concern debating and I know I'm goint to miss the rush of it all. Go on - join us!

Chloe Cass - 5th Year

Equestrian

On Saturday 26th February the Scoil Mhuire Open Team competed in the Hoof Prints Interschools Showjumping Competition at Boswell Equestrian Centre. Julia Markes, Megan Mc Govern and Clodagh Tuite all jumped double clear rounds to qualify the team for the jump off competition. Holly Fearon was unfortunate to have the second last fence down in round 2. However, Holly jumped a brilliant clear round in the jump off. Clodagh Tuite also jumped a clear fast round in the jump off. Over all 8 teams out of 20 qualified for the jump off stage. Thanks to Holly and Clodagh Scoil Mhuire finished in an excellent 3rd Place.

Well done to all four girls!

Athletics - Wednesday 16th February

Two girls from the Athletics team qualified from the North Leinster Schools Cross Country to run in the Leinster Schools Cross Country Championships in Santry Stadium on Wednesday 16th February. They were Alison Daly and Ashling O'Hare.

Aishling ran in the U15 Junior 2000m race with over 100 athletes participating. Ashling had not run competively for over 6 months so this was a great achievement for her to qualify. She had a very good race and is now getting ready for the Meath Track and Field Competition in April.

Alison ran in the U17 Inter 3500m race and was competing against Leinster's top athletes. The first 15 athletes qualified for the All Ireland school Cross Country, and Alison was just 2 places away from qualifying and came in 17th. She had a very strong race and was unfortunate not to qualify. Alison is now getting ready for the Meath Track and Field Competition in April and looks a strong contender for the rest of the year.

Well done to both girls.

Athletics - Wednesday 2nd February

The girls from Scoil Mhuire competed in the North Leinster Schools Cross Country Championships in DCU, Dublin. It was a wet and windy day but ground conditions were good.

Running in the U14 Minor race were Megan Smith, Amy Troy and Laura Grant, with over 100 athletes running 1,000m Megan and Amy came in the 1st 40 and Laura and not far after. This was a great achievement for these young girls.

In the U15 Junior race were Laura and Ciara Heneghan, and Aisling O'Hare with over 50 athletes in the race. Ashling came in 14th and qualified for the Leinster Schools Cross Country Championship in Santry. Laura and Ciara were 22nd and 25th and both had a great race.

Alison Daly who ran the Inter race, and Karen Dunne the Senior, both came in a strong 8th position which also qualified them for the Leinster Schools Country Championship in Santry.

All 3 girls will represent their school on Wednesday 16th February in Santry Stadium.

Well done to all the girls and good luck to Ashling, Alison and Karen.

Athletics - Saturday 29th January

Karen Dunne 6th year student was placed 3rd in teh U18 All Ireland Juvenile Indoor Combined Events championships in Nenagh this weekend. The competition kick started with the long jump, where Karen recorded a best jump of 4.56 metres. The hurdles followed with karen running a strong race to clock 11.03 seconds. Next up was the shott putt where she recorded a new personal best with the 4k shot of 7.72 metres. High jump was the penultimate event with Karen equalling her personal best of 1.44 metres. Lastly, was the 800m where she ran a controlled race to end the competition in third place.

Junior Certificate Prizegiving -Friday 28th January.

Kim Cosgrove, Hannah Grant, Sacha Mahoney, Susan Mc Guinness, Katie Maguire, Raisa Carolan, Emma Troy, Jennifer Moylan, Rebecca Spelman, Samir Barar, Daire Kavanagh, Shauna Kelly, Jessica Harlin, Sarah Corcoran, Niamh Cogavin, Amy Kelly, Louise Keogh, Fiona Brady, Johannah Mc Donald, Gessica Tuzi, Maureen Maguire, Sophie Regan, Roisin M. Ward, Shannon Kelly Smith, Shauna Ennis, Ashley Mc Bride, Aisha O’Connor, Hannah Pratt, Alice O’Brien, Emma Rowley, Linda Kelly, Joanne Shanley.

Personal Achievement Awards

Sacha Mahoney, Carly Regan, Suzanne Dickenson, RachelSheridan, Aisling Bowes, Raisa Carolan, Ingrid Cahill, Ann Marie Mulhaire, Moya Kelly, Sarah Kennedy, Aoife L. Dowling, Rachel Foley, Amanda Kenna

Katie Harte, Ashley Mc Bride, Kim Cosgrove, Heather Flood, Hannah Grant, Sally Ann Garry, Katie Maguire, Darragh Kavanagh, Ingrid Cahill, Julia Markes, Ellen Hickey.

Most Improved Students

Laura Joyce, Laura Corrigan, Niamh Keane, Yvonne Harnan

Sports / Basketball

Kim Cosgrove, Hannah Pratt, Emma Munnelly, Heather Flood, Shauna Ennis, Julia Markes, Raisa Carolan, Sarah Healy, Johannah Mc Donald

Clare Mc Lernon, Shannon Reilly, Emma Rowley, Laura Morgan, Aisha O’Connor, Rachel Foley, Ellen Hickey, Katie Maguire.

Academic Achievement Award

Emma Callis, Catherine Caulfield, Niamh Cogavin, Shauna Colgan, Heather Flood, Jessica Harlin, Katie Maguire, Laura Morgan, Rebecca Spelman, Roisin M. Ward, Kiara Ford, Samira Barar, Sarah Healy, Johanna Mc Donald.

Outstanding Academic Achievement

Shauna Ennis, Sarah Corcoran

Wednesday 19th January - Athletics

Scoil Mhuire girls competed in the DCU Invitational Schools Cross Country races on Wednesday 19th January. 86 schools from Dublin and the surrounding counties took part. Over 900 athletes finished in all 8 events from minor to senior levels.

In the Minor U14 race was Amy Troy and Megan Smith who both ran very well with almost 100 athletes in the race. In the Junior U15 race were sisters Ciara and Laura Heneghan who came in the first 30 and also ran very well. Emma Troy, who retired from running for a while, had a great race coming in 8th overall with over 50 athletes in the race. Her colleague, Grainne Whelehan, wasn't too far behind her and also ran well. Karen Dunne ran in the Senior race and came in 8th place with a strong finish.

Well done to the girls and their next race will be the North Leinster Cross Country Championships also to be held in the DCU grounds.

The Fourth Annual Meath Chronicle/Cusack Hotels Sportsperson of the year awards took place at Knightsbrook Hotel on Friday night. Master of the ceremonies was Michael O'Muircheartaigh. Eleanor Murray a third year student in Scoil Mhuire was among the nominees for Young Sports Person of the Year and was the overall winner on the night . Eleanor was presented with a unique piece of irish wood designed by Seamus Cassidy.

Eleanor won a gold medal and bronze in the Down's Syndrome International and World Swimming Championships in Taiwan in October. Eleanor won a gold medal in the 50m freestyle competition and also set a new personal best time of 52.32 seconds, shaving 1.43 seconds off her previous best performance. Eleanor also won a bronze medal in the 100m butterfly event and again set a new personal best time of the two minutes 17.90 seconds.

Well done Eleanor! (From all at Scoil Mhuire)

2011 has gotten off to a great start for our equestrian team. On Sunday 16th January and Open Team consisting of Clodagh Tuite, Taylor Cummins and Holly Fearon competed in the Hoofprints Inter-Schools league in Broadmeadow equestrian centre. The 3 girls jumped double clear rounds to qualify for the jump off. Two of the girls Taylor and Clodagh jumped against the clock in the jump off round. Their cumulative times were good enough to secure second place for the team. In addition, all 3 girls competed in the individual competiton with Cloadagh achieving 4th place.

On Saturday 22nd January, the team travelled to the Kernan equestrian Centre, Crossmaglen to compete in the next round of the competition.. The above 3 girls were joined by Megan Mc Govern competing in her first Open competition for Scoil Mhuire. Again, the team jumped very well to secure a place in the jump off and once again were placed 2nd competing against very strong teams.

Holly Fearon 6th, 1st Open Individual Competition.

12th January, 2011.

Leaving Certificate Applied students arrange a visit to the school from

Holocaust Survivor Tomi Reichental

November 2010

Class Project 11A & 11D - Media

Over the past few weeks 11D were requested to do a project for their english class. Media is an important topic because it is on a large scale and we come across it all the time. For the project the class were split into groups of three, then with their group they had to decide what product they would make and what service they would provide. Also, they had to think about what advertisement would be used.

When each group were ready with their product they would stand in front of the class and present and promote what they had made and what service they would provide. When the group had finished with the promotion and answering questions about the product/service, the rest of the class woudl give them a mark out of ten. When the groups had shown their products, service, posters and leaflets that they had made, all the marks were added up and the group with the highest score would win.

Aisling Stafford (11D)

Our class 11A, used our business skills in an English class media project. We divided in groups and set out to complete the tasks given to us by Ms. Mc Namara. The purpose of the project was to come up with and made 3-D product, give your company a name, make an eye-catching poster and persuade the class that your idea is exceptional. Easier said than done!

Everyones' huge effort shone through in their ideas, products and posters. People's ideas were brilliant; we had a litle bit of everything ranging from drinks to locker fresheners. A teddy bear even made an appearance. The posters were eye-catching and promoted the prodcuts very successfully. The standard was very high and everybody's super art skills were used really well.

All in all the project was a great success with everyone enjoying pitching their products and listening to others. There were difficult questions that all the businesses handled like professionals against very tough potential customers. Most importantly though it was a super project providing us with lots of fun.

Anna Bolger (11A)

Scoil Mhuire girls in 1st year and 3rd year competed in the Geraldine Memorial Cross Country Meet at St. Brigid's Athletic Club, Oldcastle. They competed against 12 other schools in the Meath area. The minor girls, Laura and Ciara Heneghan, Megan Smith and Amy Troy were 3rd overall in the minor u14 1100m team event, with 11 teams entered in the race. Alison Daly came 1st in the Intermediate U17 1,600m race. Alison lead the race from start to finish and won very comfortably. Well done to all the girls and for representing their school.

Sunday 3rd October

Scoil Mhuire was represented by 3 teams at the Newbridge College Inter Schools Show Jumping Competition. Two teams entered the Novice team competition with the more experienced riders entering the Open competition on the third team.

Novice Team 1 made up of Leanne Holton, Lisa Rochford, Aisling Brady and Niamh Cook (All 1st Year studnets) performed very well and were placed 6th overall.

Novice Team 2 made up of Molly Mc Govern, Katie Fay, Megan Mc Govern and Lillie Kiely performed even better and were placed 3rd overall.

These performances were excellent considering that it was the girls first competitive competition for the school.

The Open team made up of Julia Markes, Clodagh Tuite, Taylor Cummins and Fiona Brady also jumped very well and Fiona BradyBrady also jumped very well and were unlucky not to make the jump off. They finished on a team total of 4 faults.

Both Taylor and Clodagh entered the Open Individual competition also and again jumped to a very high standard. Taylor was very unlucky to have a fence down but Clodagh jumped a great clear round in the 4th fastest time and got 4th prize.

Scoil Mhuire - Showjumping

On September 26th the second round of the Hoof prints Secondary Level Interschool show jumping league took place at Boswell, Equestrian Centre, Co. Wicklow.

Again, Taylor and Clodagh travelled to the venue to represent Scoil Mhuire in the Open Individual Competition. Once again they both competed very well with Taylor finishing second overall and Clodagh 6th.

On Sunday 3rd October, Scoil Mhuire will be represented at Coillog Equestrian Centre by one open team and two novice teams. We wish them all the best.

On September 19th the first round of the Hoof prints Secondary Level Interschool show jumping League took place at the Top Flights Equestrian Centre at Warrington Kilkenny.

Taylor Cummins and Clodagh Tuite travelled to the venue for the open individual’s competition which attracted 56 entries. The time to be at from early in the competition was 40.52, set by Alyssa O’Neill, Newbridge College. Taylor was third last to go and snatched the silverware with a fast time of 32.18. Clodagh had a great round but finished on 4 faults. The next leg of the league takes place in Boswell Equestrian Centre next week.