Proud dad, proud teachers, in particular Ms. Sullivan and Ms. Bell, along with local TD's Andrew Doyle, Simon Harris and Pat Casey congratulated Seán and Aisling on their fantastic achievements at the BT Young Scientist Exhibition.

Sean's project gained a Highly Commended award, a Display award as well as his Special Category award "Science for Development Award" , presented by Helen McEntee, Minister for European Affairs on behalf of Irish Aid / Self  Help Africa. The prize provides a travel bursary to the winning student and their teacher, to allow the prize-winner to travel to Africa to learn more about how their project might work in practical terms.

Irish Aid report

Self Help Africa report

Sean’s project titled ‘An Eggshell Filtration System to Remove Pollutants from Water’ investigates eggshells potential to remove heavy metal ions and microplastics from water. The project provides a low cost, accessible method of water purification in both developed and developing countries.

 

Aisling’s project was awarded a Highly Commended for her project titled ‘Are Farmers Wasting Money on Footbath Solutions’ investigates a low cost preventive method for reducing lameness in dairy cows. The results have shown that recycled milking machine wash is as effective as commercially bought footbath solution at preventing lameness.

We are so proud of you.

Day one of the BT Young Scientist competiton has concluded and our students are off to a great start. Sean and Aisling were both interviewed early in the day by EastCoast FM. Further media attention came with reporters from Virgin Media and AgriLand focusing in on our projects. We then attended the opening ceremony where the keynote speaker was none other than President Michael D. Higgins. After the ceremony both students were put through their paces by their judges and did themselves proud. We now look forward to tomorrow when the exhibition will be open to the public and Sean and Aisling will get the opportunity to present their projects to two more judges. A great day was had by all with the highlight being a handshake for Aisling from the president himself!