Transition Year students from Desmond College took part in the prestigious Young Social Innovator Competition which was held in City West Hotel Dublin on May 8th. This competition, founded by Sr. Stanislause Kennedy, encourages young students to take part in a social activity, to believe in it, act on it and change the world for good.

The TY class from Desmond College succeeded in getting two projects into the competition. The Beat the Blues project aimed at raising awareness of mental health issues and the Cardiac Screening Campaign focused on mandatory screening of young people for SADS.

As part of this campaign the TY Class, along with their teacher Ms Ciara Broderick, met the Health Committee and An Taoiseach Enda Kenny for a private meeting, to discuss the implementation of mandatory screening. It was with great joy and delighted that the TY class won a Young Social Innovator Award for their campaign.

However they all agreed that while they were delighted with their prestigious Award, their ultimate goal is to have free screening available to all people in Ireland under the age of thirty-five. This project was motivated by the loss of two young people, both of whom were very special and important in the lives of this Desmond College Transition Year Class and it is a project goal that all are determined to achieve.

Young Social Innovators believes young people are a powerful force in a community and one which can bring about change for good. This TY class certainly live up to this description of young people and are worthy winners of the Award.

Steven Brosnan, Tom Flavin, Shauna Tobin, Luke Barry & Simon Geaney, all TY Students from Desmond College trading under the name of F21-D represented Limerick Enterprise Board at the National Finals of the Student Enterprise Awards in Croke Park last week.

The students who featured in Dragons’ Den as well as the National Finals of Get Up & Go Mini Company have developed and sold their unique brand of screen wash.

At the national finals held on the 17th April, the students received a Special Merit award and were also chosen among the top 15 students in the country based upon their overall score, based on that they were also chosen to partake in a Business Boot Camp to be held in the University of Limerick next June.

The Bootcamp is being organised by the County & City Enterprise Boards with support from Ulster Bank. The venue for the Bootcamp is the state of the art Nexus Innovation Centre at University of Limerick. The 5-day Bootcamp will feature a range of interactive enterprise workshops delivered by highly experienced trainers to help students further develop their business ideas.

Students will also get to work closely with members of the Nexus community of entrepreneurs, including:

• Albert Quigley – Gnarly Adventure

• Aislinn O’Flynn – Sensory Toys

• Kris Zima – Mosquito

• Grainne Barry – Blue Leprechaun Games

TY students, Tom Flavin and Steven Brosnan, are presented with a cheque and framed picture by Bank of Ireland officials following their appearance on RTÉ’s junior Dragons’ Den.

First year students visit Bunratty Castle as part of a History Tour which also took them to Craggaunowen.

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