Tipperary students take home five BT Young Scientist and Technology awards

Students from four schools in Tipperary took home five prizes at last week's BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.

Two students from Cashel Community College, Ava Abbott and Megan Kirby, took home second place in the Social and Behavioural Science senior Group category.

Ava and Megan's project was titled, Investigating the links between prenatal trauma, traumatic childbirth and adolescent mental health.

They interviewed 5,000 parents of children and young people aged 5 to 18 about their experience of pregnancy and childbirth.
Science teacher and mentor TJ Quinn said the they are proud of the girls.

"We are very proud of the girls in the school and the commitment they have shown because a lot of the work was done in their own time.

“We are delighted to have come second in the senior's category. This is their second year to win a prize. They won third place last year. They did a new project this year which was tremendous work," said Mr Quinn.

Teacher at St Joseph's College Borrisoleigh, Mary Gorey, won the Analog Devices Educator of Excellence Award.

Principal Kevin McCarthy said it is great to see Ms Gorey's work recognised.

"We are delighted that the hard work of Ms Gorey has been acknowledged by the committee of the BT Young Scientist. She gives a huge amount of time to promoting Young Scientist and Scifest in the school, and it's great to see it acknowledged,

"The school has a huge tradition of representation at all national science events, and credit goes to Ms Gorey and her fellow science teachers," said Mr McCarthy.

The CBS Thurles took home two prizes in the Highly Commended category. In Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Science, Darragh Noonan received a Highly Commended prize for analysing and improving the aerodynamics of foam-based projectiles (darts) using CFD and CAD to decrease drag and other factors.

In Social and Behavioural Science, Louis Ryan, Patrick Mohn, and Justine Geronimo received a Highly Commended award for their project Voting Patterns.

Also Highly Commended in technology was Robert Dunne, Harry Madden, Conor Kearney from Cistercian College Roscrea.

Their project was titled: Investigating the viability of hydroelectricity in our school as a renewable source of energy.
The students investigated whether the river near their school was powerful enough to run a generator to supply electricity to their school.

They found that the river could produce 42 kilowatts, and their generator could use up to 42 kilowatts.

Robert Dunne, who was a member of the group project, said they were happy with the result.

“We are quite happy. It’s a big achievement, and our school was very happy. It was a nice surprise, and all our hard work since October has paid off.

“We are all interested in renewable energy, especially with global warming. We all are interested in engineering, and that’s what we want to get into, said Robert.

Robert also said they had learned much about research that would help them in college.

The 58th annual BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition was held online. Over 1,000 students participated from schools across the country in 2022.

Managing Director, BT Ireland Shay Walsh congratulated students and teachers involved.

"Congratulations to students across the island of Ireland and to all of our winners who took part in the exhibition this week, and thank you for brightening up a cold January, particularly with Covid-19 continuing to cast a very long shadow. The students at the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition did a remarkable job this week and have shown a huge diversity of thought in actively seeking out solutions to some of the biggest challenges that humanity faces.

"I want to thank the teachers, parents, guardians, and everyone who has supported the students that entered. I would also like to thank our esteemed judges, our sponsors and partners and of course, our own fantastic BT team of organisers, who, collectively, make this exhibition possible every year," said Mr Walsh.

A total of 24 projects qualified for the exhibition from Tipperary this year. Schools in Thurles, Borrisokane, Cahir, Tipperary Town, Roscrea, Fethard, Clonmel, and Cashel participated.

Social and behavioural science was the most popular in Tipperary, with 14 of the 24 projects in this category.

Four projects were in technology, two in biological and ecological science and one in chemical, physical and mathematical sciences.

All projects are available from the project portal on the BT Young Scientist and Technology website.

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