Tag Archives: Coláiste Muire

COLÁISTE Muire, Ennis have qualified for the All-Ireland senior A volleyball final, which will be played in UCD on Wednesday December 12. Members of the current team won the Junior schools shield in 2013, the Junior schools Cup in 2014 and the Cadette A in 2016. This is the second time the school will contest the senior A final, having lost out to Naas two years ago while the schools second senior team won the B final last year. They defeated Holy Family Newbridge, three sets to one, in the semi-final, which was played in UL Arena on Tuesday. Colàiste Muire lost the schools senior cup final in a five set match against Newbridge last April in Kilkenny so it was a sweet victory. The squad has trained really well and are determined to bring the senior A title to Ennis for the first time. Their opponents will be decided on Friday when St Mary’s Naas play St Raphael’s Loughrea. …

As our holiday in Canada drew to an end, I longed to be alone in the perfect beauty of mountainous British Columbia. In the late evening after dinner, I excused myself from the campfire evenings and headed towards the shore, mere minutes from the campsite. Settling down by an old log, I glanced down the empty stony beach. Far out on the tranquil sea, a few kayakers paddled silently through the blue water, sending ripples across the bay. The sun hung low over the distant mountain, gently changing the Pacific waters from blue to yellow to orange. On the mainland, the distant mountains turned orange as the light hit them. Far off to the south of the hills, the faint lights of the city flickered and twinkled in the fading daylight. I sat down and leaned my head against the log. I turned it towards the sun, closed my eyes and felt the rays of its soft light as it …

THREE of the organisers of a teenage gambling awareness workshop in Ennis last week have told The Clare Champion that it is a significant issue for some young people. The gambling awareness seminar at Coláiste Muire involved interactive, peer-led workshops, which were designed by the school’s transition-year class. Among the guest speakers were Barry Grant, CEO of Problem Gambling Ireland, and addiction counsellor Justin Campbell. Shona Hale, Niamh McHugh and Rachel Kennedy, all of whom are transition-year students, played a central role in organising the event. As part of the project, Niamh interviewed a teenage girl with a gambling problem. “You wouldn’t think this girl had this problem. She gambled on online poker. She told us it all started with innocent slot machines. She was like, ‘if you know how to play it properly, you’re obviously going to win’. That’s what she said. She was gambling on slot machines, then internet slot machines and then online poker. “She made a …

More than 250 Clare secondary school students participated in the county final of the Student Enterprise Awards at Treacys West County Hotel in Ennis today (Thursday). Hosted by the Local Enterprise Office Clare, the Awards Scheme forms part of Clare’s Student Enterprise Programme, which seeks to stimulate the creation of real-life businesses in secondary schools by encouraging students to research and manage their own business, with support from local business mentors. The Clare County Final saw students present 76 enterprise ideas at various stalls throughout the awards ceremony venue with prizes being awarded in nine categories. The first prize winners of the junior, intermediate and senior categories will go on to represent Clare in the national final in Croke Park on Wednesday, April 22. Student Enterprise Awards winners: Junior Category Winners – 1st Luxury Bags (St Anne’s Community College Killaloe), 2nd Buí Beauty (Scoil Mhuire Ennistymon), 3rd Nifty Knots (Scoil Mhuire Ennistymon). Intermediate Category Winners – 1st Blissful Beauty (St …

YSI Team from Coláiste Muire, Ennis has been named the “Young Social Innovators of the Year 2014”. Their project Beware of IT aims to educate young people about the increasing dangers associated with internet usage. The Ennis students’ project was one of over 400 youth-led social innovation projects undertaken this year in over 200 second level schools and youth organisations throughout Ireland. Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, co-founder, Young Social Innovators and Anne O’Leary, CEO Vodafone Ireland presented the winning team with their award at a ceremony in Dublin following the 13th Young Social Innovators Annual Showcase, which was supported by the Vodafone Ireland Foundation. The prize for the Ennis team inclued €1,500 to develop their project. Runners-up were Mount Mercy College, Model Farm Road, Co. Cork for their project on Sexual Assault Must Come To A Halt. Congratulating the award winners and all the participants in this year’s YSI Social Innovation Programme, Sr Stan said “ Social Innovation champions youth led, …

By Aneesha Abdalla, Coláiste Muire, Ennis. Highly commended, junior Clare Champion Short Story Competition HAVING two parents in your life is important. We need both a mother and a father figure. But sometimes things don’t turn out as you want them to be. Some people grow up with one. For me, it’s my mom. All my life I just wanted the feeling and relationship or bond with my father. Every time someone brings up their dad it just makes me feel sad because I have never known or had the chance to get close to my father. Every Father’s Day I write a letter, which I wish I could send. I write about how I feel, my emotions and everything that I would ask him such as “Do you ever think about how I’m getting on?”, “Do you have another family?”, “Why did you leave?”. These questions are always on my mind. After I’m done writing the letter, I read …

By Eve Quinn, Coláiste Muire, Enis. Highly commended, senior Clare Champion Short Story Competition. THE Angelus chimed tunelessly over the whining tyres and impatient horns and babble of voices. Six o’clock was her favourite time of day – it always had been. The suit-clad businessmen and businesswomen bustled past, carrying bulging briefcases, wearing weary expressions. Their eyebrows were pulled together in frustration and their lips were sealed in a firm line of discontent. But beneath the hard exteriors, she could see the love, the hunger to be home, the longing to see family. Some stood waiting at the dilapidated bus stop. Others made their way towards the underground car park, where a private mode of transport awaited them. At six o’clock, everybody had a purpose. She could see what that must have felt like – to actually live for something. As people passed her by, most avoided eye contact. Their eyes darted nervously or disgustedly or judgmentally to the other …

THIS year’s Clare Champion Short Story Competition not only attracted its largest ever number of entries but it also saw some previous entrants scooping top prizes. At the presentation of prizes in De Valera Library, Ennis last Thursday night, Clare Champion editor Austin Hobbs said the competition has been a huge success since its inception. “It has been an incredible experience over a number of years and we are delighted to see huge participation in it,” he commented. He said the competition gives young people a chance to let their imagination “run riot a bit, without having to worry about the parameters of the Leaving Cert or Junior Cert structure”. Clare Champion managing director, John Galvin, added that over 270 young people had submitted entries, the largest number ever to enter the competition. He complimented all who had taken the time to write a story. “After a hard day at school, not to mention homework, it’s not easy to put …