Young scientists fly the flag of Banner brilliance

VISITORS to the RDS at the weekend were certainly blinded by the science of Clare students as they showcased their entries to the 47th annual BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition 2011.

A number of awards were taken home to the Banner by local students, with one Clare entrant bringing back not one, but three awards.
Students from Mary Immaculate Secondary School, Lisdoonvarna, Coláiste Muire, Meánscoil Na Mbráithre and Kilrush Community School all took home prizes from the prestigious competition.
Scooping second in the senior level was Marie Carkhill from Mary Immaculate Secondary School with her project ‘Changes in the occurrence of surnames since 1911 in Kildare and Clare’. She was also presented with the best display award as well as receiving the coveted Rev Dr Tom Burke Bursary.
Fr Tom Burke was one of the co-founders of the Young Scientist project and passed away in 2008. In memory of his contribution to the Young Scientist project, a €1,000 Bursary is awarded in his name to an individual participant who is deemed by the judges as the best communicator. This is an educational bursary to help them in their second/ third level education.
When asked how she felt after winning the three awards 17 year old Marie from Kilfenora told us, “It still really hasn’t sunk in yet.”
The fifth year student told us she was thinking of ideas for this year’s exhibition as soon as her group project for last year’s competition was complete.
“I was trying to come up with something interesting, and I was thinking about how I had an unusual surname. I was really into the computer side of the project, I’d done a bit of GIS mapping, which is a computer system for displaying geographic information, and I liked that. The 1911 census had just come on line together so I thought I would look at that in comparison to the 2010 register of electors and see what changes in names have taken place in the past 100 years.”
She compared Kildare and Clare for her project. “I chose those two places because they are so contrasting. The research showed up some interesting things, for instance Kildare had a smaller population than Clare in 1911, but of course that has since shot up. You can see many things from the changes in surnames, for instance rural depopulation and people settling in urban areas. And of course nowadays there is a greater variety of surnames out there, whereas in 1911 the most variety you would have is an English landlord’s surname in Kildare. However, you still get the same surnames year on year in the same district.”
Also scooping an award from the Lisdoonvarna school was John Clancy with his project “Can seed dispersal efficiency be improved by better design?” He was awarded second prize in the Junior Individual Biological and Ecological sciences category.
David Sims from Doolin, was another Mary Immaculate prize winner with a project entitled, “Variations in the gas composition of the bladders in Ascophyllum nodosum”. He was awarded second prize in the category of Intermediate Individual Biological and Ecological sciences. Katie Connole from Fanore was highly commended for her project “Could a fuel tax replace road tax?” in the Intermediate Individual Social and Behavioural sciences.
Also highly commended at the Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition were Caoimhe Hoey, Claire Purcell, Alice Brogan from Colaiste Muire, Ennis. They created an electric scooter powered by solar energy for their project in the junior category.
There were also celebrations at Meánscoil na mBráithre, Ennistymon with students Calem Roelofs, Kieran Killeen highly commended for their examination of the affect of music on heart rates.
And Sarah Thornton and Jenny Ryan of Kilrush Community School were highly commended for their project looking at stress in the lives of the Gardaí Síochána.
Graham Sutherland, CEO, BT Ireland said, “It is not exaggerating to say that, after 47 years, there was certainly something extra special about the 2011 exhibition. Throughout this week, these students have raised our spirits, and given us hope for the future with their confidence, ideas, and can-do attitude.”
28 Clare students from six schools across the county entered their projects into this year’s exhibition. Clare were represented by 14 projects in the categories of Biological and Ecological, Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences, Social and Behavioural Sciences and Technology. Mary Immaculate Secondary School, Lisdoonvarna, Rice College Ennis, Meánscoil Na mBráithre Ennistymon, Coláiste Muire Ennis, Kilrush Community School and Shannon Comprehensive School all qualified for the competition.