Mini-Company

Mini Company has been one of the most rewarding experiences out of all of TY! Although it was certainly one of the more stressful activities Ty of 2012/2013 had to deal with , I was delighted to have taken part in the project and honoured to have gotten so far in the competition. 
As I mentioned before, since the beginning of the year, we have been having 'Mini-company' classes with Ms. P.
Business and the idea of setting up my own 'Mini Company' or enterprise is a totally new idea to me, not having taken Business Studies last year!! 
I was in a group called 'William's Words' with Caitlin, Aisling G, Ruth, Shannon and Juliette. It was a long and tiring process on the whole, but we got there in the end: The product we had dreamed up in September was finally a legitimate booklet: printed and bound professionally, on sale to students in our schools and even stocked in local bookshops!!

Drama, McDonalds and Joe Dolan: Our big adventure to Mullingar!

The past few weeks of religion class have been a blur, they were just so busy! After the extensive research we did on the individual Millennium Development goals before Christmas, we decided to create dramas inspired by them!

(...... So, What are Millennium Development Goals???)

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight international development goals that were officially established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. All 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve these goals by the year 2015. The goals are:

1. Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger,
2. Achieving universal primary education,
3. Promoting gender equality and empowering women,
4. Reducing child mortality rates,
5. Improving maternal health,
6. Combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases,
7. Ensuring environmental sustainability, and
8. Developing a global partnership for development 

ANYWAY as a class we were inspired by some of the stories we heard relating to these goals, and the related issues of human rights and dignity. Having separated into two groups, we wrote, directed and starred in our own productions of original masterpieces! 

One group chose to work with the issue of the effects of war, and the terrifying and lasting consequences on everybody it touches.

The group I was a member of chose to deal with the issue of homelessness. The objective of the play was to challenge people's views of homelessness and attempt to dispel the prejudices surrounding this disastrous outcome. 

After weeks of writing, rehearsing, rewriting, totally changing our dramas, we were finally ready for the big day! Class Síocháin was bused down early that morning to the Mullingar Arts Centre. 

Before our time came to perform, we got something to eat in the town, as if we needed any more food after our snacking on the bus! As a class, we trouped down to McDonalds for chicken and chips :) 

When we got to go side stage, It was so amazing to actually be there! Looking at the stage, it felt as if all of our hard work and energy focused on perfecting these plays was about to finally pay off. The stage was huge, and the lights were almost blinding! We could barely contain our nervousness!
Despite our fears and worries, each group performed their play extremely well, and a great time was had by everybody! :)

The Ballet :)

On the 16th of December, we went up to Dun Laoighre, to see the National Youth Ballet company perform two mini ballets, 'The Nutcracker' and the beautiful 'Christmas tale'. Having seen the show I think I'll take up ballet as my New Year's Resolution!!! ....(probably not going to happen!) The troupe was composed of young people from all over Ireland, including some girls from St. Wolstan's, who all performed brilliantly :) 
The performers were like professionals-everything, each and every movement in every dance was flawless, and they made it all look so easy!
Have a look for yourself!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV2uPR2oECU

Gaisce

Gaisce - The President's Award is Ireland's National Challenge Award for young people, the country's most prestigious and respected individual Award programme. It is a challenge from the President of Ireland to the young people of Ireland.

Gaisce works on the basis of a personal challenge set by the young person. You will set your own challenge and agree it with a President's Award Leader (PAL). You won't be competing with other participants, as each challenge is completely individual… so the only person you will compete with is yourself

The above is an outline of what many of us, hopefully will be completing throughout TY. Basically the challenge to complete the Bronze award is as follows:

• You must complete 13 weeks of a physical activity of your choice
• You must complete 13 weeks of an activity involving community involvement.
• 13 weeks of learning a new skill.
• You must do an additional 13 weeks of any chosen activity.
• We have to do an adventure Mountain hike too!!

It sounds like a lot of work- no doubt it will be! But we are all ready for the challenge and looking forward to the hike!

Time to Face the music: The musical goings on In St. Wolstans at the Minute.....

Before Christmas is always a time of business in the music department! What with the carol service coming up, the annual inter-schools Choir Competition just around the corner and the famous 'Music-Night' not far off, there is a lot to get through. As we TYs have much more time and opportunity this year without the stress of exams, to be taking part in extra-curricular activities like orchestra, choir and trad group, many of us have a huge involvement with the music department. Here's just a taster of what's going on:


Choir: 

• The choir arrange a programme every year for the annual carol service, including time honoured carols and hymns such as'Silent Night', 'Ding Dong Merrily on High' and 'Joy to the World' to name but a few. Solos often include the beautiful 'O, Holy Night'.
• There's loads of excitement at the moment, because for many of us, it will be our first time taking part in the Inter-schools choir Competition!! Under the watchful eye of Ms. O'R and Ms. M, the choir will perform the beautiful 'Caresse sur l'Ocean' from the film 'Les Choristes'. This piece is so lovely and we are all really excited about singing it- however, there is a catch!! It's in French!! This has been a bit of a struggle for me and some other girls, as we learn Spanish, (which is totally different!) but with the help of some of the older (french-speaking!) girls it has become easier. It's actually really fun learning the song in a new language!!
• Here's a clip of the piece being performed by some of the cast from the film in 2005/2006:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEs1wtsw_IA

Trad Group

• Ms. S and Mr. K are the two teachers this year in charge of the Trad group. For the carol service they arranged medleys of traditional pieces. These tunes range from jigs and fast reels, to slow Irish airs, all of which are beautiful. They include 'Harvest Home', Maggie in the Wood' and pieces like that. Though I am not exactly sure what their repetoire is, I think they played those two before but I could be wrong!!

Orchestra

• This year, Ms. M has taken charge of the Orchestra as conductor! We practice every Friday at lunch time, however call extra practices coming up to events like the carol service. Having recruited new members it's getting bigger- There are a wide enough range of instruments this year, with the sections growing each rehersal it seems! Currently, we have flutes, violins, a viola (I think) clarinets, alternating piano players, a triangle player (triangalist?) and a flourishing percussion section, with bird whistles, woodblock, tambourine, spoons etc. For the Carol service we have a big programme this year, ranging from traditional religious carols such as 'Away in a Manger', 'While Shepards Watched their Flocks' and 'The First Noel', to more upbeat, fun numbers like 'Jingle Bells' and 'We Wish you a Merry Christmas'. We finished up with the lovely 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas', which went down well. It was a nice way to prepare us members for the holidays and Christmas season!!
• We aren't sure just yet what is next on the agenda pieces-wise but we are all certainly looking forward to the new year!!

Junk Kouture Finale!

The beginning of December brought with it the biggest deadline of the year so far: the entry for the school's 'Junk Kouture' Fashion show, to be held in the hall. The few days before the Monday the outfits were supposed to be in were stressful to say the very least: things were going missing, the shoes weren't right, the skirt wouldn't be finished, we even heard of one group's skirt moulding :( but after all the hard work and stress, we made it! The fashion show was a fantastic success in my opinion: it was attended by all the TYs and a class of 3rd and 5th years.
 All the girl's showed their outfits, modelled by one of the group members, and accompanied with a description of the materials and process. All of the outfits were really amazing, and some would not look out of place on the catwalk!
It was a nice finish to what had taken so much effort since day one, and it was great to see what everybody else had been doing with their idea. The standard was incredibly high and the competition tough! All of the groups to go on to the next round had spectacular presentations, and deserve every bit of success. Good luck girls with the next round!

The Name's Bond.......

Much to our surprise, all the lucky T.Y.s got to see the new Bond film, Skyfall........it was amazing!! We left early that Thursday morning, due to be taking part in a mini-company workshop organised by the Kildare Enterprise board. However when we got there, after a short wait we found out the organiser was unable to make it to the venue, the Odeon cinema in Naas, because she was sick. We were all very concerned for poor Orla :(

However, though, another representative arrived from the Enterprise board to assure us that our journey had not been in vain, after all we were in a cinema!! She went on to tell the hundreds of tys assembled that, courtesy of the odeon cinema and the enterprise board, we would, in fact, be watching the latest bond film, Skyfall, starring (best of all) Daniel Craig! As you can imagine, we were all pretty excited! The film was amazing, and I think the 'Bond' series gained at least a few followers....
After this, it can't be said that TY is boring :)




The soundtrack to our bus journey back...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeumyOzKqgI