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Autumn 2015 Volume 19 Issue 3 A BUZZZZZ IN CRUMLIN!

NEWSLETTERNational Association Of Youthreach Co-Ordinators

Your centre wouldnt be the same without it!

of the

STANDING OVATION FOR BALLYFERMOT

SLIGO YOUTHREACHPRESENT

YEATS POETRY & ART

AWARDS

A Colourful Odyssey in

Carlow

Sportsreach Complete An Gaisce.

Tramore Go On Tour.

Miltown Win Xhale Award.

Autumn 2015 Volume 19 Issue 3

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Over the course of the past few weeks there has been a Novena taking place in the Edenderry parish. This novena was all organised by Fr. McEvoy himself. Fr. MckEvoy invit-ed some guest speakers to talk about their experiences/ stories. The guest speaker where:• JohnnyMurtagh• JoanneO’Riordan• JohnLonergan• ElmaWalshAsoverthepastfewweeksIhavebeendoingaprojectonDonalWalsh,IwasparticularlyinterestedinMs.ElmaWalsh.Beforethenovena,IwentdowntotheparishandspoketoFr.McEvoy.IwantedtoorganiseapersonalinterviewwithElmaWalsh.IwasbothexcitedandnervoustomeetwithElmaWalsh.Themassstartedat7.30,ImetmytutorLorraineandherfamilyatthemass.Themasswasabsolutelybeautiful,andthechoirdidamazingsinging.ElmaWalshgotupandspokeabouthersonDonalandhowhegotthecancer.She was so brave to get up in front of an audience and speak as clear as she did.WhenElmaspokeaboutDonal,sheexplainedthatDonalbelievedthathehavingcancerwaslikeclimbingamountain,sheexplainedtheeverybodyhastheirmountains/problemstheyhaveinlife.Thatthereisalwaysadoor open for help. Suicide is not the answer.

Donal’s message: “So please, as a 16 year old who has no say in his death sentence, who has no choice in the pain he is about to cause and who would take any chance at even a few more months on this planet, appre-ciate what you have, know that there is other options and help is always there.”

AftermassIwentuptospeaktoElmaWalsh.Shewastalkingtoloadsofpeople,soshethrewmehercarkeysandaskedmetogotohercarandgetmorememorycardsandwristbands.Icouldn’tbemorehonoured.WhenIwentbackintothechurcheveryonewantedacard,theamountofkindwords people said about Donal was inspirational. Eventually I spoke to Elma Walshandshewantedtoseemyproject,whenthepictureofDonalatthedebscameupshewastellingmeallaboutJoanne,thegirlDonalbroughttothe debs and how she is in college now but it took her a long hard journey togetthere,andshedidit.

IappreciatedtheElmahasalongdrivebacktoKerry,soIallowedhertotakemyquestionnaire with her and post it back to me whenever she was ready. I also asked her would she take a picture with me and my tutor for my project. She replied “I would be delighted to.” The next day I was sitting in youthreach when the photographer came uptogivemethephotographs.AboutaweeklatermyquestionnairefromElmaWalshreturned. Her answers giving were remarkable. She also posted some wrist bands. I wasextremelynervoustalkingtoElma,whatwasIwasgoingtosaytoher?orevenhow to start speaking to her but it turns out I was nervous for nothing. She was an ordinary,friendlywomanthatIamdelightedIhavemet.

Edenderry Student, Tricia Mooney Meets The Late Donal Walshs Mother Elma

TopRight: FrPJMcEvoy,ElmaWalsh(DonalsMam),TriciaMooneyTraineeLorraineONeill, Tutor 0f Youthreach EdenderryCentreLeft: LorraineONeill(Tutor),sonRonan&JoanneORiordan,GuestSpeakerat Edenderry NovenaBottomLeft: FrPJ,Elma&Tricia

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TraineesfromYouthreachEdenderryaspartoftheirPersonalandInterpersonalSkillsQQILevels3and4,eachchosetheirfavouriteinspirationalquoteandthey compiled them to create a very impressive wall display.

Wall Of Quotations in Edenderry

Presentation Ceremony at Youthreach Balbriggan

On24thSeptemberYouthreachBalbrigganheldtheircertificatepresentationtorecognisestudents’achievementsintheBrackenCourtHotel.Therewasagreatatmosphere at the event as past and present students accompanied by family andfriends,fellowstudentsandcentrestaffcametogetherforthecelebration.Attheevent,Youthreachstudentsreceivedcertificatesforcoursestheycomplet-edduringthe2014/2015academicyear,includingQQIcourses,FirstAidcours-es,aDrugEducationprogrammewithForόigeYouthServicesandJobseekingskillsworkshopswithFastTracktoInformationTechnology(FIT).SomestudentswerealsopresentedwiththePresident’sGaisceBronzeAwardonthenight.Dublin and Dun Laoghaire Education and Training Board were represented at theceremonybyEducationOfficer,FionnualaAndersonandRegionalYou-threach Co-ordinator Ken Smartt. In her opening address Fionnuala Anderson congratulatedallthestudentsreceivingawards.ApaststudentfromtheCentre,Iuliu Rostas spoke fondly about his own personal experience of attending You-threach.Representativesfromlocalcommunityorganisations-ForόigeYouthServices,BalbrigganTidyTownsandBalbrigganCommunityGuards-alsospokeon the night about the various projects that they have been involved in with Youthreach students. One of the highlights of the event was the presentation of BalbrigganYouthreach’sfirstever‘StudentoftheYearAward’whichwenttoEricO’Shea,averypopularanddeservingformerstudent.

Jacqui Caulfield retires from Ballymun Youthreach

ItiswithgreatsadnessthatBallymunYouthreachsaysgoodbyetoJacquiCaulfield.Jacquiwasco-ordinatorinBallymunYouthreachforfifteenyearshavingpreviouslyworkedhereas the catering teacher. Her drive and vision for the centre has been responsible for many greatadditionstothecentre,mostnotablythechangeinlocationin2008whentheYou-threach moved into the premises vacated by the Senior Comprehensive school here in Ballymun.Shewillbesorelymissedbystudentsandstaffalike,manywhohavegreatlybenefitedfromheradviceanddirectionovertheyears.Wewishherallthebestinherrichlydeserved retirement and hope to see her again very soon.

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A Leaving Lunch for Ballincollig Youthreach Finishing Students 2015

Ballincollig Youthreach students enjoyed a well-deserved lunch at OrielHouseoncompletionofQQICorkEducationandTraining(Cetb)Level 4 programmes. On completion of a very busy year students also composed their own rap with GMC. Please contact our centre for a copy of our rap Challenges as we believe we have the X Factor! Phone 0214875432

Magnificent MarathonersBallincolliglearners’resolveprevailedinoneofthewettestandwindiestCorkCityMarathons.Thelearnersyouthteamfinishedeighteenth out of sixty eight teams in the Cork Youth Relay Chal-lenge.YouthRelayteamleader,BredaDennehy,wasthrilledfortheteam’sdetermination,tenacityandbeliefintheirownabilitytofinishsowellinatrociousweatherconditions.

DarrenShanahan,AgniusDapsys,ThomasJones,UrlaCoomey,KeithNewman,LindaO’DriscollandteamleaderBredaDennehy

Ballincollig Youthreach Celebration of Completion

Coordinator,BernieO’Liatháin,presentedstudent,AgniusDapsys,hisBallincolligYouthreachCompletionCertificate.Agnius has achieved a QQI Level 4 General Learning Award and islookingforwardtoreceivinghiscertificateattheCorkEduca-tionandTrainingBoard(Cetb)QQIFurtherEducationAwardsinNovember.Presently,AgniusisstudyingSport&RecreationCork.BallincolligYouthreachstaffaredelightedandproudwithtwelvestudents achieving full QQI Level 4 Awards

RobynO‘LearyreceivedherBallincolligYouthreachCompletionCertificatefromCoordinator,BernieO’Liatháin.Robynhasachieved a QQI Level 4 General Learning Award and is also lookingforwardtoreceivinghercertificateattheCorkEducationandTrainingBoard(Cetb)QQIFurtherEducationAwardsinNovember. Presently Robyn is studing Teaching English as a ForeignLanguage(TEFL)withaviewtoworkinginChina.

Ballincollig Youthreach

Students try to beat The Kube

Recently,BallincolligstudentsThomasJonesandDarrenShanahanfund-raised for Ballincollig Community Forum by bravely participating in The KubeatOrielHouseHotel,Ballincollig.The Kube Fundraising Event based on theideaofthepopularITVGameshow,TheCube,highlyentertainedmembersand guests while raising funds for a new Community Centre in Ballincollig.

ThomasJones,BallincolligYouthreach,concentatesintheKube(pic1)Darren Shanahan smiles as he quali-fiesforthenextround(pic2)

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Ballincollig Youthreach Bedazzles our Bard for 15Oth Birthday Celebration

Recently,BallincolligYouthreachstudentstookpartinSligoYouthreach’sW.B.Yeats150thBirthday Poetry Competition. Each student had to compose their own poem using two lines fromaYeatspoem.Teacher,BredaDenne-hy,wasecstaticandinaweofherstudentsparticipation,resultinginconciseandyeteffectivepoems.

Lefttoright:RobynO’Leary,UrlaCoomey,LindaO’Dri-scoll,JessicaCarmody,AgniusDapsys,AaronO’Driscoll

andBredaDennehywiththeirW.B.YeatsPoetrycompetitioncertificates.

Dream ExtremeI have spread my dreams under

your feet;Tread softly because you tread on

my dreams.My youthreach days are now

complete,My dreams are now part of my

schemes.

Caring youthreach has made me positive&up-beat;

How lucky I am to know this you-threach team.

I beam and glow on their wisdom sheet,

Yes,youthreach,taughtmetodream extreme!

By Michael Carmody

Lasher LearnersYouthreachistheplacetobe,It’swhereyougetyourFETAC3!Linda,Aggie,OrinandRobyn,

We’retheonesthatdotheslaggin.

Twogirlsinsilkkimonos,bothBeautiful,oneagazelle.

TwoboysinArmanijeans,bothLovable,onefromCurrafell

ByLindaO’Driscoll

T he RantIrantedtotheknaveandfool,

But outgrew that school.Youthreachisanewstart,

More inclusive with less rule.Motto: participate and play your part.

It’snotthatcruel–newskillswithtools,Maths,CommunicationsandActivities–cool!Teamwork,Mechanics,HairdressingandArt,

Catering,IT,PEandswimmingpool.GetfitandearnaMarathonstart!

By Robert Murphy

Ballincollig Blues

ByGeneralLearning,CommunicationsLevel4ClassatBallincolligYouthreach

Finishing-folders,movin-on,Challenges,excitingtimesyouthreachbebrave,

RomanticIreland’sdeadandgone,It’swithO’Learyinthegrave.

Workexperience,summerproject&summersong,

Leaving-learners staffwillcryandwave.

RomanticIreland’sdeadandgone,It’swithO’Learyinthegrave.

Orin,AgeeandRobyn–O’Learyfrom,Darren,Thomas,Graham,Beverlyand

Jessica–rememberandrave.RomanticIreland’sdeadandgone,

It’swithO’Learyinthegrave.

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Youthreach Ballinrobe A Year of All-Ireland Achievements

This year was a very proud and trium-phantyearforstudentsandstaffatYouthreachBallinrobe.WinningboththeAll-Ireland3DYeats’ArtCompetitionandtheAll-Irelandboys’soccercompetition,has led to one of our most successful years to date!

On22ndJune2015,atanawardcere-mony commemorating the life and works ofW.B.Yeats,oneofourLCAyearonestudents,MsVeronikaGeneviciute,blewaway the adjudicators with her 3D Art sculpture of Yeats. The awards ceremony tookplacein“TheGlasshouse”,Sligo.

AnotherLCAstudent,MrThomasCleary,came in third place with his sketch to accompany the poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree,byYeats.Bothstudentsdidverywell to attain these achievements as the competition from across the country was of a very high standard!

On2July2015,theYouthreachBallinrobeBoys’SoccerTeamwenttoAthlonetoparticipateintheAll-Irelandsoccerleague.Withapositiveattitude,theboys’teambeatfiveothercountyteamsfromaroundIrelandtobecomevictoriouswinnersofthemuchcoveted

All-Ireland Soccer Title.

IttrulywasanexcellentendtoaverypositiveyearinYouthreachBallinrobe.Welldonetoallstudentswhoparticipatedinthesecompetitions and we look forward to another year of achievements when we return in September.

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A Standing Ovation For Ballyfermot Youthreach.“Wearethereckless,wearethewildyouth!Intheruinsofanold,derelictchurchwhereyoungpeoplesometimesgotodrink,secretsand lies strain friendships to breaking point. Duringthecourseofasinglenight,younglivesandlovesmaybelostorredeemed,but all will be changed forever.” Following onfromlastyear’sStreetsandStories,TheUnknownTheatre,comprisedofstudentsfromBallyfermotYouthreach,andonefromCabraYouthreach,returnedwiththeirfirst,fullproduction,IfWallsCouldTalk,ahauntingandoftenhumoroustaleoffriendships,fail-ingsand,maybe,justmaybe,findingyourselfbeforeit’stoolate.RunningfromJuly29thatTheNewTheatre,TempleBarforsixperfor-mances,itthentransferredtotheCivicCentre,Ballyfermot for one night only due to popular demand. And the response was phenomenal!It’sbeenanamazingtwelvemonthsforUn-known Theatre who last year set out to prove thatacourageousgroupofyoungpeople,unfamiliarwithactingortheatre,couldcreatesomething of their own capable of standing with anything out there. It started with Streets andStoriesatTheNewTheatre,inJuly2014.Then,inDecember,castmemberZoeKellywon the Olympia Theatre Rising Star Award 2015.Nextcamethehugelysuccessful,IfWallsCouldTalk,aplaywhichfollowsthelivesof a group of young people over the course of onenightwhichexceededeveryone’swildestexpectations.

DescribedbyAnthonyFox,ArtisticDirectorofTheNewTheatreas“poignant,refreshinglyboldandbrave,veryfunny,”IfWallsCouldTalk pulled no punches and packed them in.Playingtoanappreciativefullhouse,receivingastandingovation,withrequeststo come back later in the year or early next year,twoofthecastwereeveninvitedontothe Ryan Turbidy Radio Show on 2FM. And mostexcitingofall,there’ssignificantinterestin taking the show to The Edinburgh Interna-tional Fringe Festival in 2016. A remarkable achievement given that most of the cast which includeTerrieGray,ZoeKelly,AishlingHickey,JohnMcCarthy,DemiO’Reilly,ChelseaButterly,LukeWeekes,CiaraGavin,ChelseaGrahamandAnnmarieFarrell,whorangeinagesfrom16to21,hadneversetfootinatheatrebefore,neverseen a play or attended a drama class. They just took the chance.Through regular workshops in TheNewTheatre,thankstotheincredible support of Anthony Fox,studentsdevised,improvisedand generally had great fun exploring stories they wanted to tell,toldintheirownvoice.TheUnknownTheatreisdifferentinthatit’sawarethatyoungpeoplefrom backgrounds where theatre maynotatfirstbeappreciated

stillhaveamazingtalentandsetsabouten-couraging that in a way they can connect with. Two years ago these students took a step into the unknown. Since then they have delved evendeeper,hadsomeamazingexperiencesand achieved something quite remarkable. The journey continues. If you think you mightbeinterestedinjoiningus,talktoyourCo-ordinator. This year we were delighted to haveChelseaGraham,astudentfromCabraYouthreach,joinUnknownTheatre.Nextyear,it could be you!

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Youthreach Ballymahon 5km Fun RunOnWednesdayJune17th,YouthreachBallymahonhelditsinaugural5kmfunrunalongthebeautifulbanksoftheRoyalcanalinBallymahon Co. Longford.ThiseventwasorganisedtohonourthememoryofstaffmemberSeánCallaghanandtomarkthefirstyearsincehispassing.The event was well attended with over 100 people turning up to walk or run on the day.WewouldliketoextendourgratitudetoSéan’sfamilyandfriendsforgenerouslysupporting,donatingandparticipatinginourevent.WewouldalsoliketoacknowledgealltheYouthreachcentresintheLongfordandWestmeathETBfortheirsupportandwewouldliketothankallthevisitingstudentsandstafffortakingpartandmakingourfunrunatremendoussuccess,

ManythankstoSmyth’sSuperValu,FreshToday,LovellBros,ThomasCox,Nally’sTopaz,BallymahonAFC,PeterHanleyMotorsandMidlandTrophieswhowerekindenoughtooffersponsorshipfortheday.Withoutthissortofsupportandcommunityinvolvementeventslikethesewouldnotbepossible.AllmoniesraisedhavebeendonatedtotheBallymahonDefibrillatorGroup.Weareproudtohaveraised€728forthisworthwhilecause.

Ballyshannon Visit Art ExhibitionIn September Ballyshannon learners visited the contemporary art exhibition Magnetism in the old Snia/Saehan factory in Sligo. TheexhibitionwaspresentedbyHazelwoodHouse,Sligo.TheexhibitionwascuratedbyVaariClaffeyandbroughtlarge-scalesculpturalworksbyagroupofIrishandinternationalartiststogetherwithavideoprogramme,compiledtoreflectthehistoryofthefactoryatthesitewheremagneticvideotapewasmanufacturedfrom1987-2005.

Youthreach Team Challenge at Petersburg Outdoor Activity Centre.

GRETB Youthreaches took part in a Team Challenge on September 30th at Petersburg Outdoor Activity Centre. A great day was had by all.

TeamGalwayCity,proudwinnersofthe Conor Morris Memorial Plaque

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Bray & North Wicklow Youthreach Graduation 2015

Bray&NorthWicklowYouthreachheldtheirgraduationceremonyinJuneforallstudentswhocompletedthetwoyearprogrammeandachievedtheirQQI(FETAC)Level4Certifi-cate. The singing group opened the ceremony with a beautiful performance.MichelleKeating(actingco-ordinator)spoketoall in attendance and reassured all students that the door will always be open for advice and guidance as they head out into thisnextpartoftheirlives.Student,CiaraButlerwasthestaron the day as she received the “Student of the year award”. ThiswasawardedtoCiaraforhercommitment,enthusiasm,and eagerness to learn and for always giving a helping hand in the centre. The ceremony closed with a photo slideshow of all the memories and experiences that each and every individual student contributed to the centre. Light refreshments were providedbeforestudents,staff,familyandfriendssatdowntoathreecoursemeal,beautifullypreparedandcookedbythestaffandstudentsthemselves.Alotoftimeandeffortwentintoeverylastdetailfortheevent,fromdecoratingtheroomrightthroughtothestaffwaitingonstudentsandtheirfamilies;somethingthe students really got a kick out of. All of the students looked fantasticintheirgraduationgownsandallofthestaffteaminBray&NorthWicklowYouthreachareveryproudoftheyoungadultstheyhavebecome.Thejourneywasn’teasybutitwasworth it.

Bray Youthreach Students celebrating their graduation

LeannMahon,TaraReilly,CiaraButler(StudentoftheYear)andAngelaGlynn

Busy Summer Programme in Buncrana & Glengad!

TheBuncranaandGlengadYouthreachcentresinInishowen,CoDonegalhadavery busy and successful summer programme this year. The photos give a small flavourofwhattheygotuptoincludingMUSO(previouslyknownasSongcraft)workingwiththelearnerstocreatetheirownsong,havinganenvironmentalcleanupintheirarea,holdingtheirannualopendaywhichincludedlearners

receivingarangeofawards,hostingabarbecueintheGlengadcentreforspecialneeds students from the Little Angels school and promoting Youthreach at the

annual Inishowen Agricultural Show.

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A Colourful Odyssey in Carlow

Lions,Tigers,HorsesandZe-bras were just a taste of some of the animals who boarded ‘Noah’sArk’andmadetheirodyssey from Youthreach Carlow to the Carlow Child-care Crèche as part of the Youthreach Carlow summer programme 2015. As part of the programme our students were given the opportunity of refurbishing some beautiful murals which had felt the effectsoftimeoverthepast

number of years. Originally these murals had been cre-ated by the Senior Travelling Training Centre which had been a part of the Carlow VEC educational vista a number of years previous. The members of that programme under theguidanceofSeamusO’Rourke(RIP)createdthesebeautiful murals depicting thestoryofNoah’sArk.Youthreach students were invited by the Crèche to view

the murals and quickly began to re-imagine ways in which they could restore the murals to their former glory. Over the monthofJunethestudentsbegan to revamp the murals asallmannerofanimals,clouds,etc.weredrawn(withnotaUnicorninsight!).Throughout the process the students demonstrated a vastarrayofartisticskills,bundles of commitment and high levels of motivation to recreate a wonderful pan-orama for the children who attend the Crèche on the Kilkenny Road. It really was a case of remembering the old rhyme‘Welltherewasgreenalligators and long necked geese,somehumptybackedcamels and some chimpan-

zees...’asthefinalmuralsprovedtobeamazing.Hugecredit must go to the students of Youthreach Carlow and their art teacher Lisa Gordon who worked tirelessly on this project. A special mention must go to the Youthreach Carlow Centre Co-ordinator Martina Osborne who had the foresight and vision to make this project happen. A big thanks also to Niall Moran and the Carlow Childcare Centre for giving our students the medium to showcase and display their talents and as the title states it sure has been a colourful odyssey for all involved with plenty of rainbows insight.

Pictured(lefttoright):TinaBerney,ChloeHopkins,AislingMannion,LeighMannion,JohnnyO’LearyandJamieMoran.

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“Paws for a Moment” ECO-Unesco Winners!Congratulations to Youthreach Carlow students who participated in the ECO-UnescoAwards2015,winninganawardintheSeniorEcoHealth&Wellbeingcategory.Ourstudentsdecidedtotackletheissueof‘dogfouling’inCarlowtownandtheharmfulimpactsthatthisproblemhasupon Carlow Town and the wider community. The students carried out an awareness campaign about the potential harmful impacts dog fouling cancause.Aspartofthisactionprojectthestudentscreateddisplays,wrotenewspaperarticles,producedavideoandalsoheldawarenessworkshops in local Primary Schools. The students thoroughly enjoyed the experience and look forward to the Young Environmentalist Awards 2016.

Belfast Trip 2015On Tuesday the 31st of March 2015 our students and teachers left the Youthreach CarlowCentreforBelfastat8:00am.Thebus arrived in Belfast at 12:00pm and the students were shown around Belfast City Centre followed by lunch. Students and teachers then participated in a community circus school workshop. In the workshop students and teachers learned new skills

suchasjuggling,tightropewalking,acro-batics,etc.Studentsandteacherslearnedhow to work together as a team whilst also learning and developing their communi-cationskills.ThegroupfinishedtheCircusSchool at 5pm and returned to the hostel. The group then went to Nandos for a nice meal whilst subsequently returning to the hostel. The following morning the group left the hostel and went to the Titanic Museum in Belfast where they participat-

ed in a very informative guided tour. The students then partook in a history work-shop where they looked at and examined differentsourcesonthetopicofTitanicand the value of history. After a quick lunchthegroupvisitedthe‘drydock’andpumphousewhereTitanicwasfittedoutand learned some more interesting facts about Titanic. Overall the trip was a huge successandbothstaffandstudentslookforward to our next adventure!

News From CastleblayneyCastleblayney Youthreach held a careers week for Youthreach students in County Monaghan. Students attended presentations fromSolas,MonaghanInstituteandCavanInstituteonthewiderangeoffurthereducationandtrainingcoursesavailablelocally.This included apprenticeships along with short and long term courses.

As part of the QQI Level 4 Communications module students participated in mock interviews organised by the Adult GuidanceOfficerwithintheCMETBandtheMonaghanSupported Employment Agency.

StudentsattendedmanycentreworkshopsthroughoutJuneandJuly.ThisincludedBreatheworkshop(lookafteryourmentalhealth),Smokingcessationprogramme,4workshopsaround risk and drug use focusing on clockwork orange and othersyntheticcannabinoidswithavisittoCoolmine–atreatment and rehabilitation programme for alcohol and drug abuse based in Dublin.

Careers week at Castleblayney Youthreach Drugs Education Programme MentalHealthWorkshop

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Crumlins 2014 Graduates Return To ‘Get Connected’.

NineofourformerstudentsgraduatedtheLevel4FullAwardinJuly2015. Of these: two went on to full time employment; one plans to go to night school; and the rest have gone on to various PLC courses in a number of CDETB College. The broad range of progression routes followed by our students is testament to the value of the Level 4 Major Award in General Learning. Our students have progressed to courses suchas:MusicManagement(Ballyfermot)SecurityStudies(CrumlinCollege),BusinessAdministration(Rathmines),GameDesign(Ballyfer-mot)andPre-UniversityLaw(Dunboyne).

Above you can see that they recently returned to the centre to partici-pateina‘GetConnected’workshopthatwasdesignedtohelpstudentsmakethemostoftheirtimeincollege,plantheirbudgets,developtheir study skills and gave tips on how to manage their time. The work-shop was delivered by Maurice Murphy who is employed by the Canals CommunityPartnership.Mauricewillcontinuetooffersupportandguidance in the coming months should it be required and of course theyknowtheycanreturntoCrumlinYouthreachasourstaffteamismorethandelightedtohelpoutshouldtheyneedit.Weallwishthemthe very best of luck.

Beekeeping Causing Quite A Buzzzzz In Crumlin!Crumlin Youthreach has a new subject on the timetable this year and it's causingquiteabuzzzzz.Somestudentswerenervoustostartbutmajoritywere quite happy to try QQI L5 Beekeeping. Students spent time on the summer programme researching designs for- and helping to building hives in the woodwork room and for the new apiary at the back of our premises.TheapiaryitselfisajointventurebetweenWALK(anorgan-isationthatworkswithadultswithintellectualdisabilities),ScoilColm(thelocalPrimarySchool)andourselveshereatCrumlinYouthreach.It'sa great way of bringing people together in a community project and of course,it'sgoodfortheenvironment.InthisphotoyoucanseeConorQuinn on the left and Stephen Byrne in the middle who is being helped by fellow student Lee Mulraney and teacher Dave Mulvaney who is over-seeingthemastheyget'suitedandbooted'fortheirfirsttriptotheApi-ary.Nostudents,teachersorwildlifewereharmedinthisphoto-shoot!!

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Donegal Youthreach Holds First County Summer Games!

On30June,allsixofthecentresinCoDonegal(Ballyshannon,Buncrana,Glengad,Gortahork,LetterkennyandLifford)cametogethertoholdourfirstannualsummergamesatGartanOETC.Wewantedtoprovideourlearnerswiththeirown'sportsday'.Teamshadtocompleteavarietyoftaskswhichculminatedinaraftbuildingcompetitionandrace.Thewinners,basedontheiroverallparticipationandattitudewereTeamBallyshannon.We'relookingforwardtonextyear'sgamesalready!

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Enniscorthy Youthreach Winners of the X-Hale Youth Awards Film Competition 2015

TheAnnualIrishCancerSocietyAnnualX-HaleAwardstookplaceonThursday,2ndJuly,2015inTheLightHouseCinemainSmithfield,Dublin7withEnniscorthyYouthreachtakingtwotopAwards.TheywontheoverallatSeniorLevelandalsotheAwardformosthitsonYoutubewithover72,000views.Therewere41entriesinthisyear’scompetitionfromalloverthecountry.

The Irish Cancer Society through the X-Hale Youth Awards want Youth Organisations to play their part in helping to prevent young people in our community from starting to smoke. Currently in Ireland about 12% of school aged young people are reported to smoke withratesashighas25%of15/17yearoldgirlsinsomeareas.

EnniscorthyYouthreachstudentswithassistanceoftheirTeacherMr.HughJohnDunnesetaboutcreatingananti-smokingvideowhichtheyenteredintothecompetition.Thescriptwaswritten,thesetsmadeandtheoverallproductiontookplaceanditdepictsayoung girl being pressurised into smoking. This was achieved by introducing some similar scenes from horror movies acted out by the cast from Youthreach.

“WhenthisvideowasputonYoutubebytheIrishCancerSocietyandwithinhoursitwentviral.”

Themessagebeingportrayedbythisshortfilmistopreventyoungpeoplefromstartingtosmoke.

Digital Media was introduced as an extra Curricular Module at Enniscorthy Youthreach in 2014/2015. The students had to carry out a lotofresearchregardingthetopicandthenmakesuretheyhadthecorrectequipment.Thechecklistincludedthefollowing-script,rehearsals,camera,microphones,locations,propsandmake–up.

JohnBrennan,YouthreachCo-ordinatorandTeacherHughDunneLearners and Hugh Dunne with representatives from Irish Cancer Society.

Amber Flag for Ballincollig YouthreachRecently Ballincollig Youthreach learners and staffwerepresentedwithTheAmberFlagbyAlanQuinlan,formerMunsterandIrishRugby

player. Suicide Aware launched the Amber Flag Initiativein2013.Theflagwaslaunchedtopro-motepositivementalhealthinschools,colleges,clubs and societies who abide by Suicide Aware criteria for positive mental health. Ballincollig

Youthreach eagerly engaged in this programme demystifying issues around mental health and encouraging young people to be more open in

talking about their own concerns.L-R:AlanQuinlan,LindaO’Driscoll,Aaron

O’Driscoll,ThomasJones,AdrianO’ConnellandRobert Rohu

Proud Ballincollig Youthreach learners with their Amber Flag

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The Glen Youthreach & UCC ConnectionTheGlenYouthreachSoccerTeamvisitedtheUCCMARDYKESportsaComplexonFriday25thJanuary.Whiletheywerethere,theyplayed a full FUTSOL game and received an extensive tour of all the facilities and all the training methods used by the UCC Teams.AfterwardstheymetthePresident,ChairmanandTeamManageroftheUCCSoccerClubandtalkedabouttheUCCPLUSPRO-GRAMME.Thiswasanexcellentopportunitytoseethedifferenttrainingmethodsusedbytheteamsandtoseetheworldclassfacilities available in the UCC Mardyke complex. The Glen Youthreach would also like to thank Hughie O Donovan who is on work placement from UCC in the Youthreach for his help in organising this.

UCC Plus ProgrammeWorkingwithlinkedschools,theUCCPLUS+Programme(formerly

AccessProgramme)seekstotargetstudentsandtoprovidemotivationaland

educational assistance to them throughout their secondary schooling to enhance their ability to compete for third level places. Currently there

are a number of schools and colleges of further educations linked to the Programme for this purpose.

HavingachievedentrytotheUniversityUCCPLUS+enablesstudentstoparticipate fully in student life and reach their full potential.

http://www.ucc.ie/en/uccplus/prospective/HEAR/

LastYearUCCPlusOfficehadaSoccerCampforUCClinkedsecondaryschools to encourage young soccer players to attend UCC Plus Elite

SoccerCampTotargetelitesoccerplayers(MaleandFemale)fromUCCPlus linked schools and Identify potential soccer scholarship players for

UCC Experience the life of a UCC soccer scholarship player.SeewhatlifeislikeasaUCCstudentathlete,

Experiencetopclassfacilities,topclasscoachingandtopclass education during the one day camp in UCC.

UCC is where you will want to be

The Glen Goes Abroad

TwoGlenstudentsDylanOKeeffeandPaulCorcoranwho travelled to Strasbourg thanks to their Contemporary

Issues Task. This trip would not be possible without the funding and support of the Michael Sweetman Trust.

The Glen Youthreach & Cork Penny Dinners

The LCA1 class volunteered their services for one day to helpoutinpreparing,cookingandservingthemeals.Allof the students really enjoyed this day and it helped to change some of the mindset of some of the students in workingwithpeopleinneed.Wewillbereturningforonemore day before the end of term.

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All Change In GortahorkNew Coordinator In Gortahork!

Donegal Youthreach is delighted to welcome Ciaran O Brien as the new Coordinator of the Gortahork Youthreach centre! Ciaran wasbornandrearedinSligo,wherehewasinvolvedinsportseducation from a very young age.

He started his professional career working with Gartan Outdoor EducationandTrainingCentre,wherehewasaninstructorforanumberofyears:“Allthisexperiencewas,inthemain,workingwith young people. The nature of adventure sports forces you as the instructor to have the ability to engage and build relationships withgroupsquickly.Youmustalsobeflexibleandcreative.Allkeyattributes to working in Youthreach.”

A number of years ago Ciaran took a career break from Gartan to work with young people in care which led to him returning to college to re-skill. He returned to Gartan after almost three years and the majority of his time was spent working on the Outdoor InstructorTraineeshipCourse(QQILevel5).

Ciaran is looking forward to building a relationship with young peopleandstaffinYouthreachGortahorkand“tryingtofigureouthowwe,asateam,canhavethemostimpactinprovidingeducation and training for our learners.” He feels the Youthreach Programmegiveslearnersachancetoimprovetheirconfidence,challengethemselves,overcomehurdlesandhopefullyleavewant-ing to learn more.

WewishCiaraneverysuccessinhisnewrole.Formoreinforma-tionontheYouthreachprogrammeinGortahork,contactCiaranon0749135218.

Pat Morgan Retires from Gortahork Youthreach

Pat Morgan retired from his position as the Gortahork You-threach Centre Coordinator on Friday 04 September after man-agingthecentreforoverfifteenyears.OriginallyfromBelfast,Pathasbeenwiththecentresinceitfirstopeneditsdoorsin2000and has overseen the development of the programme in the Gortahork Adult Education and Training Centre from the start. In that time he has witnessed much change from the centre startingoutasatwenty-fiveplacecentreandeventuallybecom-ingathirty-oneplacecentre,startingwithasmallstaffteamofthreetoateamofninetoday,changingeducationprovisionfromNICVAtoFETACtoQQIaccreditation,managementchangesfromCoDonegalVECtoDonegalETB,fundingchangesfromtheDepartmentofEducationtoSOLAS,introductionofinspectionstoYouthreach(includingthecompletionofasuccessfulcentreinspection),nottomentionthetransformationofthecentrefromthe‘oldtech’tooneofDonegalETB’seightAdultEducationandTrainingCentrestoday,includingtheadditionofastateoftheartcrèche and an extension to the building a number of years ago. He has taken all of this change in his stride with his own brand ofNorthernhumour!Moreimportantly,Pathassupportedsomanyyoungpeoplewhoattendedtheprogrammesinceitfirstopened. Gortahork Youthreach is a 31 place centre but because Youthreachoperatesacontinuousintakepolicyallyeararound,this has mean that around 400 early school leavers have passed throughitsdoorsinPat’stime.AstheprogrammeMathstutor,Pat was innovative and creative in his teaching of a subject that many of the Gortahork learners struggled with in school.

ThestaffofGortahorkYouthreachandstaffandCoordinatorsfrom Youthreach across the county wish Pat all the best with his retirement.

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Embracing the Summer Programme 2015 Kilbeggan Youthreach

Even though the weather was unpredictableitdidn’tstopourstudents engaging in the summer programme. There were activi-ties organised which challenged students,frominvestigatingcrimescenes to competing to gain the title of MasterChef 2015 to EatingChallenges&dissecting,allstudent senses were challenged. All students worked together to embrace the experience. A wide range activities took place which physically&mentallystimulatedstudents. Clutching each other forsupport&encouragementtheyworked together building new relationships&teamspirit.Untilsummer2016!!!!Wecan’twait!!!

Dublin Zoo

WhitewaterTubing

Team Games Paintballing

Eating Challenge Eating Challenge

Eating Challenge

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YOUTHREACH LETTERKENNY TO CELEBRATE 25th YEAR!ThemuchacclaimedYouthreachProgramme,Letterkenny,isgearinguptocelebrateit's25yearsinexistence.Withre-paintingandre-furbishingofthebuildingunderway,thestudentsdecidedthattheywoulddesignandproducetheartworkofthenameof'Youthreach'fortheoutsideofthebuilding.Picturedbelowarethestudentswithclasstutors,l-r;GillianKennedy,pro-grammeCoordinator,ThomasCullen,MaryLevis,DoloresDunleavy,PriyaMendes-McMenamin,DeirdreGallagherandAndyDowds.WithCelebrationWeekduetostartonTuesday20thOctober,aweek-longprogrammeofeventshasbeenscheduledwhichwillinvolvestudentsandstaff,pastandpresent,incelebratingYouthreachLetterkenny,Ireland'seducationandtrainingprogrammeforearly school leavers

Lifford's Busy Summer ProgrammeLiffordYouthreachhadaverybusysummerprogrammethisyearwhichincludedarangeofhealthandfitnessactivitiesincludingbubblefootball,firstaidtraining(inthesunshine!),cyclingandhillwalking,asyoucanseefromthephotos.

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Busy Days In Longford YouthreachLongford Youthreach had a very active period after the QQI deadlines and the Easter break. One of our students entered the Yeats Poetry competition which was expertly organisedbyUltanandSligoYouthreach.WhileshedidnotwinaprizeChantellegainedenormously from her participation in the competition and the brilliant day both she and herpeersintheCentreenjoyedattheawardsCeremonyinSligoinJune.WhileChantelleLawrencewaswritingpoetry,Noelwasgoingthroughthepainbarrierwhenhedecidedto climb Croagh Patrick in his barefeet. Most of us struggled to get to the top with the appropriate footwear but Noel showed no signs of wilting and actually managed to make ittothepeakbeforesomeofhis“betterheeled”colleaguesandstaff.AvrilTighealsowonthe Ladies Ballmahon 5K Run organised by Ballymahon Youthreach to commemorate the untimelypassingofourcolleageSeánCallaghanoneyearago.Rivermania,Zipit,Drive4Life,Swimming,BubbleBall,Spinning,Pitch&Putt,SnookerandBowlingallplayedtheirpart during a hectic summer programme. 12 of our female students also availed of a 4 day on site training programme facilitated on the premises of a very busy local Hair Salon –experiencingthefacilities,demands,professionalismandskillsofafullyfunctioningcommercial operation. Mary Gordon also attended a SEN ICE day which was facilitated by AnnMarieBeattie.ThemonthofJulywasdedicatedtoworkexperienceandthemajorityof our students were the recipients of some high praise from many of the local employers. WhenAugustfinallycamearound,theCentreclosedit’sdoorsforawell-earnedbreakandanendtoourfirstyearinoperationinthetownofLongford.Itwillallstartagaininlessthan4weeksanditwillbecomfortingtoknowthattheDepartmentofEducation&Skillswillnotbepayingavisit,aswealreadyhadthatprivilegeafewmonthsago!!

Poem To My BrotherYou left us too young

You were full of laughterAnd full of fun.

Myeyesfillwithtears,Myheartacheswithpain,

Andupthehill,That’swhenIknewI’dneverseeagain

Wehadourupsanddowns,But at the end of it all

You always had my backEven when I acted the clown.

I would do anything to have you hereWithyourfamily,it’swhereyoubelong

Yousaidyourgoodbyes,WhichshouldhavebeenenoughButformeit’sstillverytough.

Eventuallyitwillhitus,Thatyou’reinabetterplace

But until the day God calls meThere will always be an empty space

In my heart that will never be replaced.

Loved&MissedPjxxBy:KirstinMcQuaid

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Coffee Morning in Youthreach MahonThe students in Youthreach Mahon heldaverysuccessfulcoffeemorninginRingmahon House recently. It was in aid of Marymount Hospice and was part of thenationalcampaign‘Ireland’sbiggestcoffeemorning’.The students worked during the week to make the house into a warm and welcom-ing place and gave classrooms a homely feel. Flowers were put on tables and the studentshappilyservedteas,coffees,cakes and scones.Parents and friends came to the event and the students were particularly pleased with local residents who have no connec-tion to Youthreach coming in for the morn-

ing. The posters advertising the event had been spotted in the local community cen-tre,shopsanddoctor’ssurgeries.Peoplewho had never been in the house before were delighted to tour the building and hear the history of it. Ringmahon House wasoriginallybuiltin1822byJamesMurphy brewing and distilling fame. The last family to live in the house was that of Ben Dunne senior of retailing fame. Ben Dunne junior and his sister Margaret have both visited the house throughout the years and spoke of their great memories of their childhood years surrounded by acresofgreenspace.Inthe1980smostof their land was bought by the then Cork

Corporation the massive housing scheme that was built and now forms Mahon.Thehousewasrestoredtoit’sfullgloryandofficiallyopenedinSeptember2008.Youthreach have been running their centre of education in these beautiful surroundingssinceJanuary2009.MarymountHospicebenefittedfromthemorning as everybody made a donation. One young student remarked that it was ‘mostlypaper’goingintothecollectionboxes.Atotalofmorethan€340wasraised. The students would like to thank everybody who attended for making it such a successful event.

Mind EUr Mental HealthSix students from Youthreach Mahon have recently returned from an interna-tional exchange in Cappanalea Outdoor EducationCentre,CoKerry.Theywerejoined by six young people from Scot-landandfivefromFrance.Thethemeof the week was promoting positive mental health and building resilience. TheyoungpeoplelinkedwiththeJigsawservice in Tralee while exploring the top ten activities that promote good mental health.Theymetwithbothstaffandthe

members of the Youth Advisory Panel and shared ideas on the subject. There iscurrentlynoJigsawprojectinCorkbut hopes loom large that this will soon changeandYouthreachMahon’sstu-dents will be eager to become involved.The young people negotiated their way through the ten areas in life that promote well-being . As they passed througheach‘state’theyreceivedvisastickers in their own positivity passport which they made themselves with small

artist’snotebook.Theyallwrotewarmwordsineachother’spassportsonthelast night and brought the good feelings home with them.Four of the Irish participants completed theirbronzelevelGaisceawardaspartoftheweek’shikingandthreeScottishyoung people completed their Duke of Edinburgh award challenge. These four will take up the silver challenge now and work towards that award.

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World Wise Global SchoolsYouthreach Mahon teamed upwith‘MindTheGap’facil-itator Arran Tower in a series of art workshops over the last six months. The young people workedthroughtheeffectofeducation on young people as they grow to adulthood and towards employment. They produced wonderful artwork while exploring the educa-tional experiences and living

conditions of young people around the world. They took part in lively discussions and looked at their world versus other worlds. Student AdamJohnsonsaidafterthe sessions “ I feel lucky to be getting my education in Ireland” Youthreach Mahon offerslevel4QQICertifica-tion which is delivered in a modular fashion.

The group of students who were involved in the project travelled to the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Tuesday 21st April to showcase their work. They were the only repre-sentatives from a Youthreach centre in attendance and groups had travelled from all around Ireland to showcase theirwork.‘Itwasagreatdayout’saidCiaránKelleher.

Arran brought the workshops to Mahon on a pilot basis andishopingthat‘MindTheGap’willworkwithotherYouthreach centres in the future while keeping links with Mahon and developing theirinvolvementwithWorldWiseGlobalSchools.

Sportsreach Complete An GaisceInJunetwoSportsreachstaffandelevenLearnerssetoffintheminibustoWestClare.The An Gaisce tour would last for 3 days and 2 nights. The group stayed in the Burren Outdoor Education Centre and we found the accommodation to be an ideal facility and location.Soonafterarrival,andwiththesunsplittingthelimestoneontheBurren,wewentkayaking on the Dooneen Lake accompanied bytwooftheBOECstaff.Duringthisactivitythe group played some fun team games and also were visited by a group of seals probably wondering what all the fuss was about in their peaceful lake!!! Later that evening we travelled

toLiscannortoviewthebreath-takingCliffsofMoher.TheLearnerstookalotof“selfies”while in awe of this stunning landmark. Onthesecondday,afterahealthybreakfast,wesetofftovisitTheAilweeCaves.Thecavesare located in The Burren and the guided tour lasted 1 hour. Here the Learners learned about the caves discovery in 1944 and saw remainsofbearswhilewalking980feetintothe cave. After the tour we visited The Bird of Prey and Educational Centre. A home to Eagles,Hawks,FalconsandOwlsfromalloverthe world the group were able to interact and get up close and personal with the birds. Our

day was completed with a swim at Doonbeg beach and a walk in The Burren.Onthelastday,wevacatedourBOECdwellingsandsetoffonourjourneyhometoDublin. Along the way we stopped in Shannon to visit the Bunratty castle and Folk Park. Here the learners explored the 15th century Bunrat-tycastleandthe19thcenturyFolkPark.Whilewalking through the Folk Park the learners gottoenjoythesights,soundsandtasteofthe charming village. The learners were very positive about the trip and it gave them an opportunity to experience things they would otherwise not have enjoyed.

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Over the past two years in our time in Tramore Youthreach we havelearntalot,frominsidetheclassroomstothingswe’vepicked up ourselves along the way. Our class has really enjoyed our time here; it was a big change for all of us coming from other schools. It was much easier to get along with people. In Youthreach,weweregiventhefreedomoffreespeechtosayhowwethinkandfeelaboutthings,welearntalot,aboutwhatisgoingonintheworld.Aspartofoneofourkeyassignments,weeven registered to vote! Our teacher Ciara is pretty great. She told us to write that.

Wehavewentonmanytrip’ssuchasDunmoreEastAdventureCentre,Sheilbaggin,KilkennyAdventureCentre,DunbrodyShip,PaintballinginBray,Reginald’sTowerandtheVikingtriangleinWaterford,andtheCinema.WealsodidsomeactivitieslikeKayaking,HorseRiding,TagRugbyandLaserBlast,Rounder’s,Football,Gym,GaelicFootball,BasketballandHurling.WewillreallymisscomingintoYouthreachtoseeGerrywithasmileonhisface.WehavelearntalotfromYouthreachandwe’resureourtutorshavelearntalotfromus!!Peace out

Thousands die… Dunbrody Ship!

As a class we visited the historic Dunbrody Famine Ship. During this visit we had a tour of the ship and discovered many interest-ing facts about the tragic times.

Wefoundoutwhypeopleemigratedandhowmuchitwasforthe trip to America. It was £3:10 for one person to travel and for 8peopleitwas£20.Wealsolearnedabouthowthedifferentclasses were treated. The rich people would be in the upper class section. They had their own cabins and were treated a lot better than the other passengers. The working class were treated

horribly.Theywereallsquashedtogetheronbunks,eachfamilyhad one bunk. There was a lot of sickness and death on the ship. The ship was actually a cargo ship designed for storing and trans-portingmaterialssuchaswood,gravelandstone.Howevertheytransformed the lower deck into bunks on the voyage to America and dismantled the bunks for the return voyage. This is the only chance the Irish people had at the time so they changed it.

This Trip was a great experience and bonding trip as a group. Especially as year two were leaving Youthreach and starting their LeavingCertificateshortlyafterthis.

Our Youthreach Experience In Tramore 2013 - 2015

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Tramore Students Visit Kilkenny Adventure CentreWewenttoKilkennyAdventureCentrewithL.C.A1andL.C.A2 as a group. This was our second time going to the adventure centrethisyear.Sincewehadsuchagreattime.Webondedvery well and learned some new skills to work in a group.Thefirstactivitythatwedidwasbubblesoccer.BubbleSoccerIsplayingfootballinabubble,itprotectsyourwholebodysoyoucan’tgethurt.Itwasgreatfun,weallenjoyedourself’s.Wegota quick shower of rain but that did not ruin the day. It was more fun as the ground got more slippy and muddy.Wejumpedstraightintotheobstaclecourse.WewereSplitintotwogroups.Webondedtogetherandcommunicatedtocomplete the obstacle course. The main objective of the course was to communicate with our teammates.Takeourtime,listenandfollowinstructionswasthe key to winning. The most enjoyable part of the course was when we had to run jump and climb obstacles. That lead to a small jump into mucky water it was easy to run through. At the end of the course there was a water slide. The water slide wasveryfun.Wethengotagroupphotoalltogether.Wethenheaded back to get changed and then got on the bus and went home.Wereallyenjoyedourselves,especiallyasYearTwowereleavingYouthreachtostarttheirLeavingCertificatesoon.Itwasgreat to do some bonding with them before they left and we all finishedforsummer.Wewouldrecommendthisasagreatfunactivity for families or groups of friends.

Transforum Alley Youthreach TheTransforumAlley(TA)YouthreachSportsCouncilmetbeforethesummer programme started to discuss the things that would be fun to do duringActiveCentreWeek.LotsofideasweretalkedaboutandtheseideaswerebroughttoourP.E.teacherCiara,whodecidedwhatwasrealisticandaffordable.Theweekwasahugesuccessandtheseareafewofthebestthings we did that week.• ScubaDivinginCastlegregory• Openwatertrampling• SurfingwithSplashsports• BoxingclasseswithTraleeBoxingClub• APooltournamentfortheTAstudentsDuringtheyear,abigpartoftheTASportsCouncilwastoorganisefitness

testing for the entire group. From the start of the year until the end of the year,fitnesstestsweredoneregularlysoeveryonecouldseetheirprogress.TransforumAlleyhasafitnesstestinghalloffameforthepast9years.Itisvery hard to get on it but if you do it is a great achievement. Sport is a big partofourprogrammeandallthestudentsreallyenjoyedandbenefitedfrom it. As part of our Sports programme TA take part in a Mile Challenge through-outtheyear.Thisinvolvesbeingtimedtosprint,run,jogorwalkreallyfastamile.Wehavestartedupagainthisyearandeveryoneislookingforwardto beating their time. The sports council have met as a team and have decided what new things we can include on our programme this year.

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Yeats Poetry & Art Competition Sligo Youthreach

OnWednesday24thJune,Youthreach Sligo was delighted tomeettheprize-winnersofthe Yeats 2015 poetry and art competition in the Glasshouse hotel Sligo. There were 3 categories to the competition:Poetry,Artand3D model/sculpture. Students were asked to write their own original poem but had to include a line from any of the Yeats poetry collection.SuzanneDoolanfromYou-threach Kiltimagh read her very powerful winning poem “Everyone’sBestFriend”beforeacceptingher1stprizeof an IPad.AdamFinane,DeanFogartyand Alan Higgins from You-

threach Cabra came second with their poem “My Giants Causeway”.TommyJordanfrom Dundalk Youthreach claimedthirdprizewithhispoem “Foot to the Floor”.Youthreach Kiltimagh had two winners in the art section of the competition. Anthony Mul-vennacamefirst,EllenCollinscame second and Thomas Cleary from Youthreach Ball-inrobe came third. Youthreach Ballinrobe had another proud moment when Vronika Geneviclute took home firstprizeinthe3Dsection.SapphireandJasmineFitchwho travelled all the way from Youthreach Roscrea came second and Celina Harty also

from Roscrea came third. Youthreach Sligo would like to congratulate the winners but also each young person who participated in the competi-tion and made it such a huge success. Many thanks also to the tutors who encouraged and assisted their students. Every entry has been included in a booklet which will be distributed to Youthreach cen-tres nationwide. Youthreach Sligo would like to thank Nigel ReapeOfficeSuppliesandPrintbasedinKnockmore,Ballina for his professional advice in putting this book together.Wewouldalsoliketosayabig thank you to Colm Keegan

from Poetry Ireland who travelled from Dublin to hold a highly entertaining creative writing workshop with the group. Colm had a captive au-dience,whenhereadextractsfrom his gritty and moving book“Don’tgothere”.AwordofthanksalsotoE.OofMayo,Sligo,LeitrimE.T.B,MaryMadden who took the time to address the group and meet the participants. Finally a word of appreciation to Sligo Credit Union and Irma Mulvihill for their generous sponsorship of the competition.Welldoneeverybody,welookforward to doing it all again next year..!!!!

StudentsandStafffromKiltimaghandBallinrobeYouthreachCentreswhowereprizewinnersintheYeatsPoetry&ArtCompetitions

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Monaghan Youthreach End of Year Presentation, July 23rd 2015

The Monaghan Youthreach End of Year Presentation was recently held in the cen-tre at Knockaconny. The Resource Person KathlenaSloweywelcomedstudents,parentsandguardians,invitedguests,members of the Board of Management andstafftotheevent.A number of students addressed the guests giving personal accounts of their experience of Youthreach. The Chairper-son of the Youthreach Board of Manage-ment,CouncillorCliffordKellycompli-mentedstaffandstudentsontheirwork

in the centre and encouraged students to continuelearning,emphasizingthegreatpersonalbenefitsofeducation.Learnerswere presented with their QQI and Safe-foodCertificatesontheday.Welldonetoallourstudents,especiallyCorieO’Leary,RosieMcGinley,RichardHeffernanandKeithHeffernanwhosuccessfullyachievedtheir QQI Level 4 General Learning Certif-icates. Special achievement awards were also presented to a number of Learners.ThestaffandstudentsatYouthreachwouldliketothankCouncillorCliffordKel-

ly,CouncillorColmCarthyandMs.Mar-garetFlack,membersoftheYouthreachBoard of Management who attended on the day and supported the event. WoodworkpiecescreatedbyStudentsat Monaghan Youthreach are displayed in the window of the CMETB Administra-tionCentreinMarketStreet,Monaghanwe invite everyone to view some of the unique craft items made by students at Monaghan Youthreach.

MichaelProchazkaispresentedwiththeStudentoftheYearAwardbyKathlenaSlowey,Reource

Person at Monaghan Youthreach

Rosie Mc Ginley is presented with an Academic AchievementAwardbyFionaMcCaffrey,Tutorat

Monaghan Youthreach

Tyrone Mc Cann is presented with his QQI ComponentCertificatebyCouncillorColmCarthy.

Youthreach Roscrea Celebrates Summer With Well-Being Themed Events

The summer programme of Roscrea Education Centre Youthreach was themed around well-being this year. StudentsdidfunactivitieslikeaBogathon,Surfing,Kickboxing,LaserShootingandatabletennistournament.Wealsodideducationalevents:studentswenttotheWaxmuseuminDublin,didCookeryandFashionDesign,FirstAid,RoadSafety,DrugAwarenessandwenttoseetheplay‘IfWallscouldTalk’inDublin.WealsodidafundraisingwalktoMonainchaforthe‘LaughOutLoud’communityevent.Oneofthehighlightsweretheprizesour students won in a Yeats commemoration event and thevisittoCooleParkthatweorganised.Welldonetoallinvolvedfororganisingalloftheseevents,forparticipat-ing and for the fun and learning we shared. A special mention needs to be made of the craft work that students didoverthesummer.Wehavetwobeautifulartpiecesasaresult:awallhangingofan‘arpillera’(aChileaninspiredwallhanging)andthebeautifulstonebirdbathonourfrontlawn.ThankyoutoTipperaryETB,TipperaryCountyCouncil,NALAandtheMWDAFforfundingtheseactivities.

SurfinginLahinch SapphireandJasmineFfitchreceivingtheirprizesinSligo

Some of the dolls that Youthreach students made for the wall hanging.

The new bird bath designed and made by Youthreach students

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Tralee YouthreachStudents Experiences Of the LCA

What It’s Like To Be In LCA 1

MyfirstdayinLCAwasatthestartofSep-tember, Iwas so nervous,my hands andlegs shaking, I was exited though, butmostlyIwasjustscaredthatIwouldn’tgetaplace,andthat they mightnot likeme.When they introduced themselves, I wasthinking,……“WhywasIscared”,Ididn’tknowwhyIwasbefore,becausetheyweresoniceandacceptable , that Ialmost feltguilty for being scared of them. BeinginLCAisalotdifferent,fromschool;it’s somethingnew tome, verynewactu-ally. Even though there are some subjects that are same just like in school such as MathsandEnglish, it’sstilla lotmoredif-ferent than school and I really like it so far. SofarmyfavouritesubjectisICT,becauseIdidn’thaveaclassoncomputers,Here in LCA students and teachers are treated the same which in my opinion is awesome, the best thing is that we callteachersbytheirname,Ireally likeit,butsometimes I do get mixed up and call a teacherMrs, she laughed atme haha . Ifeel reallyappreciated,partof thegroup,andmostly good. I don’t have a favouriteteacher,becauseallof themareniceandamazing,andsohelpful.I got to know the LCA 2’s and I get alongwithallofthem.They’rereallywelcoming,helpfulandfriendly.Ithinkwe’llalljustgetalong great if we keep going and getting on thewayweare.SoyeahsofarI’minlovewith LCA and everything about it

Adriana Godlova

Teambuilding DayBy Shannon O’Shea

DuringmyfirstmonthofLeavingCertAppliedonFriday18thofSeptember,Iattended a teambuilding day in An Riacht inCastleisland.There,wedidaseriesof tasks to make us work as a team. The besttaskwedidwastheminefieldgame,inthisgame,thereweretwoteams,eachteamhadtodrawoutaminefieldfortheotherteam.Onceitismade,theythenhadtotrycrosstheminefieldwithoutstanding on a bomb. Although most of thegameswerequitefun,Ididnotenjoythe blindfolded game. In this task you wererequiredtocollectapuzzlepiecewhileblindfolded,Ifoundthisdifficultasitwasdifficultformetohearwhatmyteammates were saying and it made me feel very uneasy as I am not comfortable enoughyet.Surprisingly,Ireallyenjoyedtheday.I’mstilladjustingtoLCAbutIfeltmore comfortable as the day went on andI’mgladIattendedthisdayout.

Work ExperienceBy Hayden Whelan

DuringJulyIworkedwithadeliverycompany named Nightline for my LCA workexperience.Myfirstdayofworkwashard. I had to get up at 6am and be at workby7am.Mybosswouldcollectmeatmyhomeanddrivemetowork.Whenwegot to the depo he gave me a crash course onwhattodo.Wefirsttookthepackagesoffthepalatesandthenputtheminorderrespectively to where they were being delivered to. I found this hard cause my supervisor had a pattern that changed and I found it very hard to pick up on the pattern for the order where the packages go. Once the packages were in order they getd.i.pscan(packageindepo).Onceallpackageswerescanned,wethenputthepackages in the van in order of the delivery route. As the packages are put in the van theyaregivenav.o.pscan(packageonvan),thesescansaremadesoboththemanager and customers can keep track of delivery van. Afterthepackageswereloadedup,westart making deliveries. Before we deliv-ered a package to a customer the package must be scanned again to say it is deliv-ered. The day was long and I met a lot of peopleinmyfirstweek.AfterawhileIwasgiven the duty of making home deliveries. I would grab the package from the back of the van and go to the costumers house and get them the sign for it and given them the package. I did enjoy working there but the hours were tough but I did learn quite a lot while on the job. My people skills have improved quite a bit and my idea of what it is to work has improved.

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Youthreach Miltown Malbay wins X-HALE Youth Award for Best Tobacco Industry message

Youthreach Miltown Malbay have been announced Overall Winnerforthebesttobaccoindustry message at the Irish Cancer Society Youth Awards 2015. The students from Youthreach Miltown Malbay scooped the award for their filmprojectcalled“projectX”which was showcased at the recent event in the Lighthouse CinemainSmithfield.Over 41 youth groups from Ireland’sfirstsmoke-freegen-eration competed in the Irish CancerSociety’sX-HALEYouthAwards 2015. Calling them-selves#theXgeneration,theyouthgroupsshowcasedfilmsand community action projects

which they created on the issue of smoking. The X-HALE Youth Awards is an initiative of the Irish Cancer Society which aims to empower young people to create awareness around the issue of smoking in their own communities.Youthreach Miltown Malbay was awarded the title of OverallWinnerofthebesttobacco industry message fortheirfilm“ProjectX”.Thegroups involved competed under various categories with winners selected by an independent judging panel comprising of people from theentertainment,filmandhealthcare industries.

In line with the messages high-lighted by the young people takingpartinX-HALE,youthsmoking rates in Ireland have continued to decline in recent years,givingthisgenerationof young people the power and the opportunity to make surethattheyareIreland’sfirsttobacco free generation. They decided to take on smok-ing in their own communities and the results are extremely powerful.Thefilmwhichtheyhave developed shows that #theXgeneration is here to stay.TheycanbeIreland’sfirstsmoke-freegenerationand they are telling us in their own way that the time is up

for the tobacco industry in this country.Congratulations to Youthreach Miltown Malbay for taking part and for making a positive impact on their health and thatoftheirpeers.Weneedto look at what the Youthreach Miltown Malbay students and the rest of the #theXgeneration are saying. They are educated on the issue of smoking and are refusing to let their health beaffectedbytobacco.

Tralee Students Visit to AHARAHAR is an Animal Rescue service in Castleisland. They rehome and res-cueanimalsthatneedhelp.WhenIwentthereIenjoyeditalot.Iwaswalkingadogthatwasputinthere,becauseitsownerwasanolderladywho had hurt herself and was unable to look after the dog anymore. I found this very sad and I felt like the woman was very lucky to be able to trust AHAR to look after her dog until she was well enough to take himback.Thedogseemedhappyandcomfortablewiththestaffwhichwasagoodthingtosee.Hedidn’tseemnervousoranythingwhileIwaswalkinghimeither,hewaswelllookedafterbythelooksofit.Theone

thing I least enjoyed while being there was seeing this horse who had an eye infectionthatlookedsopainful.Butwhenweweretalkingtothestaffaboutit,she said the horse was in no pain what so ever and it just looked worse than itwas.Thehorsehadbeenrescuedfromafieldandwasinanawfulcondi-tionwhentheAHARstafffoundhim.Butluckilyforhimtheycleanedhimup

andmadehimbetter,butunfortunatelywasn’tabletohealtheinfection,butthey treat it every day with creamforpainreliefsohe’scomfortableandwelllookedafter.Ireallyenjoyed spending time with the animals and know that it is so important to take care of your pets. Shauna Russell

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A Winning Tribute. Tome,selfexpressioniseverything.It’swhathelpsyoutoreleaseemotions,but it also makes you the individual that you are. Everyone expresses themselves indifferentways,forme,itwasalwayswritingrapsandpoetry.TheveryfirsttimeIeverwrotearap,inthatmoment,something completely changed in me. Iwasfinallyfreefromalltheproblemsthatwereonceweighingmedown,becauseIleftthemonthatpage.It’snotjustahobby,butameansofsurvival.It’sbeingabletoturnsomethingsotragic,into something so beautiful... all through the power of words. I was on a train to Dub-lin with my favourite Englishteacher,Fiona,destination being the national Library for an award ceremony on National poetry day. Weekspreviously,thebest Co- Ordinator inPatHowley,toldmeaboutaWilliamButler Yeats poetry competition that Sligo Youthreach were host-ing. Pat encouraged me to enter a poem I hadoncereadtohim,a tribute I wrote for my friend Danielle's 18thbirthday,soIentered,notthinkingI’devenbeshortlisted.UntilonedayPatcalledmeintohisofficeandtoldmemypoemwaspickedoutof3contenders,winner being announced in Dublin the followingday(whichwasatotallie!)TurnsoutIhadwonfirstplaceallalong,but Fiona and Pat kept it a secret right up until a was in the National library. Colm Keegan the famous Dublin poet who judged the competition was the one to tell me. I could never come close to explaining how much that moment meanttome,butitstrulysomethingIwill never forget. I'm so grateful Fiona

and Pat kept it a secret cause it really helped me to appreciate the moment even more. Colm Keegan read out an introduction and next thing I was walking up to the stage to read out my poem in front of a room full people. If the grim reaper,youronefromtheexorcistandthe clown from It all teamed up to wake me up in the middle of the night... noth-ingwouldcomparetohowterrifiedIwaswhenIreachedthatstage,butIreadoutthat poem with strength and pride in my voice because although I was reading it forDanielle,Iwasreadingitforeveryonein that room that had ever lost someone theyloved,withamessagebehindthewords... You never really have to say

goodbyetosomeoneyoulose,becausethey'realwayswithyou,waitingfortheday you meet again. The ceremony in the national library wasn't the actual awardceremonyfortheWilliamButlerYeats competition. During the summer Anthony and I along with a bus from ballinrobe attended it in Sligo with most of the teachers from all youthreaches across Connacht. I really enjoyed this day because we got to see all the winners fromallthedifferentpartstothecompe-tition,thedrawings,3Dsculpturesandall the entry's for the poetry competition. Everyone that entered had unbelievable talent. Colm Keegan hosted a poetry workshop for everyone there which I

reallygotalotoutof,hismaintipwhenitcomestowritingpoetry,istouseasmuch emotion as you possibly can. I also got to read out my poem again and to collectfirstprizeofaniPadmini,whichI'vegotsomuchbenefitfrom.Afterthe ceremony I was interviewed by the voice of the travellers about my poem which was a great experience. After the ceremony in the national Library Colm asked me to perform my Poem at a po-etry festival the weekend after and again forculturenightinSeptember,bothgigswentvery...(Ididn'tcollapsedintoaseizureonthestagesothat'swellforme)butaboveallIgottheopportunitytodo what I love doing and to experience

a whole new thing. I've since become good friends with Colm and whenever there's poetry fes-tivals or workshops on he always invites me up for them. It's a great comfort to know I could seriously consider pursuing writing poetry as a career someday. I'd like to say a big thank you to Pat for telling me to enter my Poem in

thefirstplacecausenoneofthiswouldof happened without his encouragement and also to Fiona for her support and encouragement and for bringing me all the way up to the national library and back,Iamveryverygratefultoyouboth.As for my poem... it was always so much more then a poem. It was a story of the legacyofthemostbeautifulperson,withthe most beautiful soul... And I'd already wonfirstprizebeforethiscompetition,by getting the chance to know her.

BySuzanneDoolan.

Kiltimagh Student Suzanne Wins Much More Than Sligo Poetry Competition