Term 1 ...A Reflection

Term One My Reflection ..Aimee Mulcahy 4.2

This year got off to a bit of a rocky start. With Covid-19 still ever present in our daily lives, a lot of us were worried that we’d be prevented from doing much compared to transition years prior to the pandemic. Thankfully, through what I can only assume took a lot of preplanning and perseverance on behalf of our teachers, this hasn’t been the case.

We started the year off strong with our first big activity being a trip to Inchydoney. We spent two days surfing, sand sculpting, playing games on the beach, and queuing for overpriced waffles at the coffee cart. Even though it was a relatively dull September in terms of weather, it held out for us. I don’t think a beach day in miserable weather would have been as enjoyable.

A big worry of mine going into TY was that I’d waste it, and so whenever the opportunity arose I threw myself into a new activity, team, committee or group. I’d guess that I was putting my name down for at least one new thing every day for a solid chunk of the first month back. Before going in to TY, conversations with older friends or relatives would always go the way of “Ah, sure that’s a doss year, isn’t it?” And looking back, I can’t help but wonder what those people got up to, or more accurately didn’t get up to, for their TY to be a doss.

The first major thing I had to commit to was Junk Kouture. Along with my teammates Robyn and Alannah, I had my work cut out for me. The early stages of Junk Kouture were just planning and sketching out ideas, and that was fairly chill, but once we started putting our outfit together, things took a sharp turn into the land of stress. Ms. O’Connell set us constant deadlines that seemed impossible to meet, but we still managed to pull through, I think in part because my teammates and myself were all equally committed to seeing it through. Even with all the stress being caused, we still managed to have fun, watching movies while we sewed at our weekly meetings at each other’s houses, talking current affairs and pop culture on our zoom calls when Covid made it unsafe for us to meet in person, and rushing to get our outfit looking presentable for when Ms. O’Connell came around to us in class.

Another thing that I took to immediately was Journalism with Ms. Bell. This is something that I have in mind to do after school, so I was very excited to take part. Our main focus for term one in this class was the school podcast, and this got me extra enthusiastic as listening to podcasts (albeit true crime or film being the subject matters rather than education) is something I spend a lot of time doing. In term one I conducted an interview with Brendan McCormack, a local figure in sustainability and climate change awareness, and the experience was just overall very novel and unique. I remember afterwards Roseleen, who had the very important role of ”sound guy” as we called it, saying that I had a good “podcast voice” and this immediately went to my head. I also had to try to organise more guests for us to interview. Through this, I got in contact with Will Sliney, an artist who had worked for Marvel Comics, so that was really cool for me as a massive fan of Marvel.

There was many other things in term one that I really loved doing. Filmmaking with Mr. Browne has been by far my favourite module. Like journalism, film is an industry I’m really considering going into, and so to have the opportunity to have it as a class, even just for a few weeks, was great. I took on the roles of director, producer, writer and more over the Christmas holidays so we’d have a shot at getting our filming done in January. We plan to have it finished by the end of January to be entered into the Fresh Film Festival in February.

I obviously can’t talk about our first term without talking about the show. Sister Act took up a large majority of our first few months in TY, and I loved every minute. Learning lines, songs and dances and turning that into a full stage production always has a massive payoff, but I think we put extra effort in this year considering it’s SHSS’s first show since the pandemic began. I didn’t realise how much I missed performing for an audience until I was up on the stage as a gangster singing about seducing nuns. Though the show isn’t everyone’s thing, I felt that people still really committed to it regardless of any apprehensions they may have had. The show has always been a great way to connect with people with other years, and this year was no different, as I made fast friends with some of the 5th and 3rd years taking part with us.

Aside from these activities, I took part in a number of committees and teams. I initially put my name down for the Autism Friendly Towns committee thinking I’d just be taking part in it, and now I’ve become one of it’s main organisers. I applied for a position as a Class Representative, and along with Saoirse and Robyn and the other class’s representatives, we have tried to organise activities that we feel would be enjoyed by, and benefit our classmates.

Robotics and Astro Pi with Mr. Kiely are two more things I decided to take part in. These have both given me an opportunity to learn more about computers and coding, and have convinced me to take computer science on for the leaving cert.

Overall, TY has been by far my best year in Sacred Heart, and as we enter our second term I plan to throw myself into even more activities.  There is so many things already that last year I wouldn’t even have dreamed of doing, and I hope to keep that pattern going and keep learning and trying new things. I honestly feel bad for those I mentioned earlier that see TY as a doss year, because to have that mindset they obviously must have missed out on a lot. Whenever anyone says anything in the way of calling TY a doss, I make sure to laugh and let them know ”That must have been a you-thing.”

Aimee Mulcahy 4.2

During October, I continued to enjoy the Art Out There module. I also auditioned for the school musical, Sister Act. This is something I wouldn’t normally do because I’m always too nervous and shy to be on stage, but I thought I would audition to push myself and conquer my fear. I have always had an interest in drama and acting and I loved being in the musical. My friends and I started a mini company called ‘Flickering Flames’, selling candles. I am the finance manager of the group. Our project got accepted into the BT Young Scientist and Technology Expedition 2022. We did our project on how energy drinks and caffeine affect females aged 16 to 17.

Alannah O Donovan 4.2

I really enjoyed the first term of Transition Year. I was involved in many activities such as organising matches for 1st and 2nd years as part of the GAA Future Leaders module. I was on the costumes committee for the school musical “Sister Act”. I went for an interview with Rob Heffernan for a position with the school bank which I am now part of. I was an organiser for “Gaeilge 24” as part of Gaelbhratach. I really enjoyed the day we went to Inchydoney beach to do surfing. 

The thing I enjoyed most in term one was my work experience. I was supposed to go to Scoil na mBuachaillí but due to covid I was not able to go. Although it didn't work out the way I wanted it to I was still able to go to Darrara Agricultural College for 2 days and Inchydoney Hotel for 3 days. I made the most of my work experience and learned a lot but still had fun and enjoyed seeing two different places of work.

Alice White 4.3

I got involved in the sports teams i.e. hockey, football and camogie. We have been doing well in both junior and senior teams in Gaa ( although we didn't win any finals we've gotten pretty close). WE had a good win over the Grammar in hockey on our first day out too .For the senior camogie semi final we travelled all the way to Thurles,.We had great fun and got on a big bus so there were loads of supporters.

I signed up for Leadership as one of my modules, I've been really liking this module especially organizing events for the younger years. We had a hockey blitz for the second year down on the astro, it was a bit stressful trying to have all the timetables done and have an umpire ready for every game, but it all went smoothly and was overall a great turnout. 

Anna Meade 4.2