TECHNOLOGY SUCCESS FOR ABBEY PUPILS AT BT YOUNG SCIENTIST COMPETITION IN DUBLIN

The Technology Department of the Abbey Christian Brothers’ Grammar School, Newry has been celebrating continued success at a National Competition against the cream of Ireland’s Science and Technology scholars. Eight pupils and five staff took six projects to the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in the RDS in Ballsbridge in Dublin from 8th to 10th January and all had a fantastic time, as they mixed with pupils and teachers from schools from all over Ireland, impressed judges and explained their projects to visitors from the general public. They were well looked after in the D4 Hotel during their stay which was situated quite close to the RDS.

This years BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition has broken all records with 1,616 projects entered and only 500 accepted to be displayed across the four main categories. With a significant 14% increase in the overall number of entries across the island, six Abbey projects were accepted into the Technology Category. This competition aims to build ingenuity, creativity and excitement amongst students and to help them to understand the importance and relevance of the sciences in their everyday lives, while fostering the very skills that are essential for building a knowledge economy and the future prosperity of the island.

Paul McCabe, Piaras Murphy and David Price won second place in the Junior Group section with their project ‘Dyno Slow’. This project is an innovative braking system for a child’s bike which is powered by a dynamo and automatically applies the brakes when a child exceeds a set speed. Mr Gerard Savage assisted the pupils with this project.

Bryan Murphy won third place in the Junior Individual section with his project ‘Enviroman’. Bryan’s idea is an electronic device to alert the user that the water heater is on. Mr Tony Mooney assisted him with his project. He also assisted Neil McConville with his project ‘TV Timer’. This innovative idea restricts the amount of time children can watch TV. Parents can regulate how long a child can watch TV or play a game e.g. XBOX or PlayStation. This project was ‘Highly Commended’ by the judges.

Another two projects that received ‘Highly Commended’ in the Junior Individual section were Gabriel McCoy’s ‘Fuel Safe’ and Paul McKeever’s ‘SIDS Prevention’. Gabriel’s idea solved the problem of diesel motorists accidently putting petrol into their fuel tank at a petrol station, causing substantial cost and inconvenience. Paul’s interesting idea alarms parents when their baby is at risk from cot death using a buzzer and a mercury tilt switch when the child rolls over. Mr Mark Rodgers assisted the pupils in both projects .

Patrick Reel won a ‘Display Award’ for his project ‘Are we nearly there yet?’ in the Junior Individual section. His eye catching project consists of interchangeable games on a magnetic board with an electronic dice and an electronic timer. Miss Kim McGirr (who has joined the Department this year) assisted Patrick with this project. Sean Higgins, Technology Technician support for all the projects was, yet again invaluable.