Thank You Transition Year! – My Year in Review

As my Transition Year in Crana College draws to a close, I look back on one of the most interesting and inspiring times in my school life. The year has by far exceeded any expectations that I ever had, encompassing everything and anything inside the Irish Education System.

I think that it is fair to say, that I had an action-packed, yet educational year in TY. Like many other skeptics, I came into the year, with an idea of prejudice in my head, thinking that the year didn’t yield any opportunities or chances for me, and I couldn’t have been further wrong! Within a matter of weeks, I realised that TY In Crana College (and in many other hard working schools around the country) is one of the best organised programmes, that aims to get the most out of each and every student, based on the effort and commitment that the students dedicate to the programme.

Transition Year, has improved me for the better. I have became a lot more confident in this year. Through this, I have countless unforgettable memories, but of these, the most prominent include:

Speaking on behalf of TY Ireland at the National Parents Council of Post Primary Secondary Schools annual conference in the INEC, Killarney.

Participating in the 5K Mud Run!

Making the Eir Junior Spiders – Giga Spiders – Best Induvidual Project Shortlist.

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Being ‘Highly Commended’ in the National Career Skills Competition with CareersPortal.ie 

Transition Year has been simply, amazing, and has made me much more ‘well-rounded’, and confident person. I feel that this year has benefited me greatly, and that I have taken every opportunity possible to get the very best out of this year. I would urge any student who is doing TY next year, to firstly, push themselves in TY, secondly, take every opportunity available to you, and thirdly, enjoy TY – It will be amazing!

Above, is only a snapshot of what has being going on in my Transition Year! I’m sure that if you were to read through this blog, or my Twitter Feed, you would see a much bigger picture of what my Transition Year was all about.

Writing one of my final blog posts of TY has really saddened me, not only has this blog been an ongoing assessed piece of work for my Media Studies Module, but it has been a space where I can freely write about a topic that I have grown to love! A special thanks has to be given to absolutely everyone who have supported me in this journey – My TY Coordinator, Teachers, Staff, Employers, Co-Workers, Transition Year Ireland, Volunteers, Guest-Speakers, Fellow Bloggers & Twitter Users, Family & Friends , and everyone in between- each and every one of you have helped make my TY that extra bit more special!

Thank you Transition Year!

The Eir Junior Spiders Shortlist

TY’s at the Colosseum

The TY Boys Walking in Sorrento

The Trevi Fountain

The Colosseum

Me & Ciarán Touring Rome

5th Years at the Amalfi Coast

The Amalfi Coast

The Streets of Sorrento

‘Rome’-ing about with Roisín & Tiree

The TY Boys on a Boat Trip

Selfies at the Trevi Fountain

Outside St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican

‘Frescos’ in the Vatican

The Time Elevator

Subject Choices for Leaving Certificate 2018

TY First Aid Training

Promoting Inishowen’s Tourism Industry

Skiing Tour Key Ring Design

Rome Tour Key Ring Design

My Cover of ‘O Fortuna’

Starting the Architecture Module!

Me and my little sister Dearbhla, pictured just after my last day at work experience at her “Big School”

My ‘Space Study’ for Architecture

Blog Challenge – Six Word Story

Ice Skating in Belfast

Hill Walking Trip

Hill Walking in Uriris

Christmas Market Poster

Drugs & Alcohol Conference

Disability Awareness Module Part 1

Our Greatest Scientist – Nikola Tesla

Completion of the Cube Project

TY Panel at the National Parents Council Post Primary Annual Conference in the INEC, Killarney

TY Panel at NPCpp Annual Conference

‘Chain Reaction’ Key Rings – TY Enterprise Mini Company

Semi-Completed Cube

Prize-giving – Co-Junior Student of the Year 2014/2015 & Co-Recipient of the ‘Bríd Boner Memorial Plaque’

TY Panel at the National Parents Council of Post Primary Secondary Schools

Irish Wheelchair Association Collection

What I’ve been learning about in TY Geography – The Human Development Index (HDI)

‘Chain reaction Keyring’s’ first product!

Oisín i dTír na nÓg – Mindmap

TY Panel at National Parents Council

Month In Review – October

My Work Experience Report, written in ‘The Drumfries Times’

Monthl

Foyle Hospice Coffee Morning Donation

National Road Safety Week

Ireland Trip

TY1 Post-Surfing Selfie

Cube Project

Surifng

Surfing

Foyle Hospice Coffee Morning

Cube Project

Music Appreciation Module

Room 13 – Pre-Coffee Morning Setup

TY1 Receiving the iPads

Junior Cert Results

Irish Mythology presentation

European Day Of Languages

 

What has been going on in Transition Year Robotics?

What has being going on in Transition Year Robotics?

Upon searching through my categories of my blog, I realised that I hadn’t really blogged about robotics, and I wasn’t really that sure why, however today I have decided to blog about the ongoings of the class over the past 10 weeks in robotics.

Robotics is one of the 14 modules that I study in Transition Year, and it was the only class that Transition Year students got a choice in if they were going to choose to study throughout the TY Programme. Robotics was a choice, parallel to art, and, even though it was a very hard choice for me, I decided to study robotics.

We only have the class once a week on a Monday, and this means that we may not have much work done in this subject, than in a subject like maths or Irish. For the first 8 weeks of the TY Programme,  in Robotics, our class were divided up into a few groups, to begin building lego robots, and to programme them from a computer programme that we had received with the lego products. I was in a group with 5 other TY students – Sonia, Thomas, Stephen, Cian and Alex. This task was very interesting, and it was a really unique opportunity to get the chance to program a device, from a computer program. I had never had any experience in are before either, so it was really beneficial, to get the chance to develop this new skill.

When we returned after Halloween Break, we were divided further into smaller groups of two. I was told to work along with Sonia. After we had been split up, my robotics teacher told us that we would be designing our very own robots, that, if good enough, may get the chance to participate in a nationwide competition. The robots are to be able to fight and function as ‘Sumo Robots.’ If qualified for the competition, two robots will fight against each other in a ring. The  first robot to be pushed outside of the ring is the winner. The robots have to follow specific dimensions and rules for the competition, and this is why we will be spending a few weeks carefully designing our robots before we start making them!

Link to the Robotics Competition Website with Rules: http://www.roboticsireland.com/

NB: I would like to take this time to apologize for not being active on my blog over the last few days. I was spending every spare moment that I had over the past week practicing for my Grade V Piano Exam which I sat on Friday! I hope to get back to my normal blogging routine this week. ~ Darragh

Transition Year – Week #2 – Update Blog!

Instead of posting various smaller blogs of encounters that I’ve had during the week, I’ve decided to have an ‘Update Blog’ for my 2nd full week in TY.

Art or Robotics?

Over the past two weeks in TY, my class has had the chance to sample an art and a robotics class. We sampled these classes as we had to choose which we would study for the duration of Transition Year. I really enjoyed sampling both these subject, as they were both of major interest to me. I had studied Art and Technology for my Junior Cert, and I felt like the two subjects had set me up well for either of the TY programs. It really was a very hard decision for me, as I really had an interest in both areas. In the end I put my name down for Robotics, however, we have not been given our classes yet! If I had the chance, I would have studied both Art and Robotics in TY!

Enterprise ~ Mini-Company!

One of my favorite modules of the Transition Year course so far, would have to be enterprise! In this module we get the chance to learn about the Business World & Entrepreneurship. Through this we are asked to set up a ‘Mini-Company’. I think that this is an amazing opportunity for me to learn about starting a company in a a more practical manner, than in normal business subjects studied at Junior & Leaving Cert. I am in a group along with 3 other boys in my class – Adam, Denis & Aaron. We are almost certain that we have an idea for our company and we hope to get started on Market Research and Product Research over the next few enterprise classes.

Piano Grades

Although my piano grades are not taught inside the Transition Year course, I thought that I could include it in this blog as they will happen during my TY year. I am playing the piano for a good few years now and I have always found it hard to balance school work and music, however this year I feel that I will have more time to focus on my music. Hopefully, sometime before Christmas of this year I will be sitting my Grade V in piano, (which will leave me three grades away, from when I am able to teach the piano !) I really appreciate that I can get the chance in TY to work on my music. Music is a major interest of mine, and is a possible area that I could be studying when I go to college. I also play the guitar, and I have already noticed that I have time to enjoy music and to learn what I want to learn on the guitar. TY has given me amazing opportunities to work on my music, such as my work experience where I am teaching music as well as the extra time I have to work on my instruments. I hope to get back out gigging again, thanks to the extra free time I now have in Transition Year!