Several awards for Mayo students at Young Scientists Exhibition
The winners of the 61st BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE) have been announced. Therese Gunning, Legal Director at BT Ireland presents the 1st place Senior Group Biological and Ecological Sciences Category Award to Emily Butler, Emma Sweeney and Luke Mulloy, Ballinrobe Community School Mayo for the project 'The observation of the feeding habits of fledgling Common Swifts (Apus apus) correlating to weather conditions'. The group also won the Met Eireann Award for their project.
Two schools from South Mayo featured prominently at the 61st Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE), which was held recently at the RDS in Ballsbridge, Dublin.
Students from Ballinrobe Community School and Mount St Michael Secondary School in Claremorris shared a total of seven awards.
Luke Mulloy, Emma Sweeney and Emily Butler, from Ballinrobe Community School, won the Met Eireann Award (Biological and Ecological) for their innovative project entitled 'The observation of the feeding habits of fledgling Common Swifts (Apus apus) correlating to weather conditions'. They were also awarded 1st Senior Group in the category awards.
The National Disability Authority Award (Health and Wellbeing) went to Dana Carney, a student at Mount St Michael Secondary School, for her project, entitled 'Secure Hands: Enhancing the efficiency in emergency communication through Irish Sign Language in Ireland through the integration of machine learning in a mobile app'. Dana was also second in the Intermediate Individual category.
Another student from Mount St Michael, Lilibeth Curry Glynn, received second prize in the Senior Individual (Health and Wellbeing) category for her project, 'Waste Not, Want Not: A comprehensive investigation into the usability of sterile medical supplies post expiry, and potential to reduce waste in healthcare.'
Highly commended in the same category (Health and Wellbeing) was another Mount St Michael project, entitled 'Evolve Era: An interactive AI-powered symptom tracking and diagnostic support - a technological solution to modern healthcare challenges'. This Intermediate Group entry was by Simona Gaubyte, Ema Sasnauskaite and Huria Sadiq.
A Display Award (Health and Wellbeing) went to Abigail Killeen, from Mount St Michael Secondary School, for her project entitled 'Diawise: Empowering Educators – a technological solution for teacher training in the management of student diabetes'.
The overall winners of the competition were Laoise (12), Ciara (17) and Saoirse Murphy (15), from Presentation Secondary School in Tralee, Co Kerry, for their project 'ACT (Aid Care Treat): App-timising emergency response'.
The girls' mother, Theresa, is daughter of Frances and the late Denis Mulkeen of Faughill, between Knock and Kiltimagh.
Theresa was a member of the teaching staff at Mount St Michael, Claremorris, for several years before moving to Kerry after marrying Seamus Murphy from Tralee.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Minister for Education Norma Foley said it was heartening to see that Irish post-primary students in second year were in top position in the EU in Mathematics and Science in the latest international assessment of Mathematics and Science achievement – known as TIMSS 2023.
“The BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition plays a key role in promoting our young people’s interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). I am committed to continuing to encourage STEM in our schools for the benefit of all learners,’’ she added.
