It was another fantastic year for MCS at the 2023 BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition as the students were awarded four major awards. A record number of 22 students in 9 groups presented their projects over the four days of the exhibition in the RDS, 11^th – 14^th January.

TY students Aine Shortall and Kate Whyte won both the Teagasc Special Award and second Place in the Intermediate Biological & Ecological Sciences Category for their project ‘Paratreatology: A Sweeter way to treat Equine Parasites’. Aine and Kate both have a keen interest in horses and are aware of the challenges faced by horse owners in controlling equine parasites. In their project, they developed a natural herbal remedy to control such parasites.

Two groups of first year students presented their projects at the RDS and both won awards in the Junior Biological & Ecological Sciences Category.  Terry Heffernan, Domhnall Molloy and Kerry Sun were awarded Third Place for their project ‘Garden Greening: Designing a Biodiversity Pillar to Remedy the Problems of Modern Gardening’ while Lilly Daly, Millie O’Donovan and Leah Winters were awarded Second place in the same category for their project ‘Bio-Enzymes, A Cooler Way to Wash’.

Two other projects were Highly Commended for their high standard. TY students Niamh Kelly, Evanna Farrell and Emily Winters for their project ‘Driving the Elderly to a Safer Future’ and Katie Creggy, Hannah Higgins and Aoife Ross for their project ‘Plan Bee: A Natural Nutritious Feed for Bees during Autumn’.

Four other groups of Transition Year students presented their projects at the exhibition. All did so with impressive knowledge of their project and great pride.

Nathan Downes, Éannna Maxwell and Daniel Lynam with their project ‘Can Native Waterweeds Solve Farmer’s Feed and Pollution Problems?’ Lauren Finan and Trina Fox’s project was titled ‘Evaluating the Effectiveness of Farming practices at reducing Laminitis Incidence among Irish Connemara Ponies ‘. Sarah-Jayne Hasson presented her project ‘Talent or Gender? The Real Secret to a Good Game’ which she prepared with Roisin Slevin. ‘Lifestyle vs Low Carbon Footprint: Identifying the Factors that Influence Public Support for Environmental Initiatives’ was presented by Arina Tsarkova and Brendan Egan.

All the students worked diligently preparing their projects since September with lunchtimes and late evenings spent either in the lab or in front of a laptop, all with the huge support of their teachers Ms Mairéad Cusack and Ms Irene O’Sullivan. They developed valuable skills in presentation of their work, communication as well as scientific investigation.

The students reflected on their BTYSE experience.

‘BT Young Scientist was a great experience. Although we didn’t win anything we had an amazing time, meeting new people and having fun at the exhibits at the venue. If I had the chance I would 100% do it again’. Daniel Lynam.

‘BT was an experience to remember, although there was a lot of work involved in preparation for the competition, it was worth it when we stayed for 3 nights away in Dublin making new friends and memories.’ Niamh Kelly

MCS and the Moate community would like to commend the students on their superb preparation, presentation and achievements at BTYSE.

 

Feature Image:

Back Row: Leah Winters, Éannna Maxwell, Nathan Downes, Sarah-Jayne Hasson, Trina Fox, Daniel Lynam, Lauren Finan, Aoife Ross, Hannah Higgins, Katie Creggy

Middle Row: Millie O’Donovan, Leah Daly, Kerry Sun, Niamh Kelly, Evanna Farrell, Emily Winters,  Brendan Egan, Arina Tsarkova

Front Row: Terry Heffernan, Domhnall Molloy, Kate Whyte, Aine Shortall

 

BTYS Declan Troy, Director Research at Teagasc Aine Shortall and Kate Whyte

 

BTYS Kerry Sun, Domhnall Molloy & Terry Heffernan, Second Place Junior Category