Kian Mooney (age 13) and Conor Grant (age 15) from Colaiste Na Mi, Navan, with the winning poster.

Johnstown school captures science prize

Students and teachers from Coláiste na Mí, Johnstown, returned victorious from attending a science poster competition last Friday where they won first prize and two commendation awards.
For coming in first place in the Mallinckrodt Science Week Poster competition, Coláiste na Mí received a cheque for €2,500 to be used by the school in future scientific endeavours.
The awards ceremony was attended by the Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton and Meath East TD, Helen McEntee.
Some 29 schools from County Meath and Dublin 15 were asked to submit entries for the coveted prize where students were asked to design posters illustrating the use of chemistry in their everyday lives. The judges’ criteria included teamwork, design, innovation and creative thinking.
Mallinckrodt, which employs more than 100 at its facility in Damastown, on the Meath-Dublin border, received over 50 poster entries, of which five posters were shortlisted from three schools: Coláiste na Mí; St Michael’s Loreto, Navan, and Mount Sackville, Chapelizod.
Three of the five shortlisted entries were submitted by Coláiste na Mí. Two posters were deemed highly commendable by the judges for the design process. The first poster detailed a board game based on the concept of snakes and ladders replaced by DNA helixes and test tubes. The first 30 elements in the Periodic Table were also part of the overall design.
The second poster illustrated a bathroom scene whereby beauty products were represented by a collage of their constituent elements.
The winning poster depicted an outline of a Coláiste na Mí student surrounded by everyday objects which represented chemistry in the world around students.
The outstanding visual impact of the poster was noted by the judges. Minister Joan Burton presented the school with a cheque for €2,500 to be used by the school in future scientific endeavours.
Students who accepted the awards from the minister were Kian Mooney, Conor Grant, Theo Oyetunji and Kristina Keenan. Excited students were welcomed back with high praise from principal Justine Hughes who expressed her pride in the students of Coláiste na Mí and their teachers “who continue to impress with their excellent academic ability, creativity and commitment to educational success”.
Ms Hughes noted how further opportunities await the school as enrolment numbers are set to increase from the current 90 students to an enrolment of 230 students this coming September.
She said these statistics are an impressive indication for future growth and development of the new secondary school and its positive role within the Johnstown community.