Three pupils from the Abbey Christian Brothers’ Grammar School, Newry won prestigious awards at the annual Northern Ireland Young Scientist competition, organised by Seagate Young Innovators at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast. Kevin O’Reilly won the Queen’s University Award for Biological Sciences and because this was a ‘special award’ he was presented with a beautiful crystal trophy.
His project ‘A study of competitive behaviour in freshwater shrimps’ impressed the judges as he attempted to classify the Gammarus Pulex into a functional feeding group with a view to understanding their success in dominating Irish freshwater systems. Ronan Kearney and David Digney were awarded third place in the 11-14 years Group section of the Northern Ireland Young Scientist Competition with their project ‘Caddis Larvae – Builders at Work’.This was a study of house construction in the caddis larvae, an invertebrate of fresh water streams. These pupils worked under the guidance of Mrs. Margaret Lane, Head of Biology and Miss Deirdre Mulgrew, Biology teacher.
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