Rachel wins top prize in career skills competition

A GORT Community School pupil has taken the top accolade at the National Career Skills Competition.
Lough Cutra girl, Rachel McKnight, who is now in her final year of the Leaving Cert Applied programme, took first prize at the recent award ceremony in Dublin.
The career skills competition award ceremony was held at the Department of Education and Science and was attended by Junior Minister for Training and Skills, Galway’s Ciarán Cannon.
For the competition, pupils were invited to carry out a career investigation and to record their findings on the skills required for the role, following a work experience of their choice.
“The project involved writing a report on the work experience I did and what I learned and how I did the work. It helped me decide if I wanted to do that career or not after school,” explained Rachel.
The 16-year-old did her work experience every Friday throughout her first term in LCA in Paisti Beaga in Quin, Clare.
“I learned loads from being there and the people that worked there helped me loads in showing me new things. It was a really good place to do my work experience because they gave me the chance to experience working with the younger kids and then the older ones in the Montessori as well,” she outlined.
“I definitely want to have a career in childcare because I am interested in childcare and I love kids. Working in Paisti Beaga helped me learn a lot about the actual job,” Rachel continued.
Rachel entered the competition on the encouragement of her career guidance teacher, Róisín Neylon.
“At the awards, the judges said Rachel’s report was one of the best entries they had received since the competition began three years ago. As part of her entry she had to write about one day in her work experience and outline what she did and what she learned.
“She had to focus on one aspect of it and she focussed on health and safety. She learned in the crèche about food in particular and how to cook the food and the importance of a balanced diet,” Ms Neylon outlined.
“It is a very worthwhile competition for students to enter because it helps them to look objectively at their work experience and what they gained from it. It helps them to focus on what they are learning and discover whether or not this is something they would like to pursue,” Ms Neylon concluded.
Rachel won for her account of her awareness and development of transferable skills in the workplace. She won an iPad for herself and a cash prize of €1,000 for her school.
This is the school’s second award in the competition. Former pupil, Laura Kenny came third in 2010.