{"id":14821,"date":"2024-05-01T10:13:51","date_gmt":"2024-05-01T09:13:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moatecs.com\/?p=14821"},"modified":"2024-05-01T10:13:51","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T09:13:51","slug":"huge-achievements-for-mcs-students-at-the-regional-final-of-scifest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moatecs.com\/huge-achievements-for-mcs-students-at-the-regional-final-of-scifest\/","title":{"rendered":"Huge Achievements for MCS students at the Regional Final of SciFest"},"content":{"rendered":"

There were huge achievements for Moate Community School students in this year\u2019s SciFest Regional Final at TUS (Technological University of the Shannon) on 24th<\/sup> April: Three Special Awards, including the SciFest Overall Runner-up Best Project and Eight Category Awards.<\/p>\n

For his project \u2018A Crystal-Clear Way to Solve Ireland\u2019s Energy Crisis\u2019, Fionn Campbell designed a prototype speed ramp which could harvest electricity from the kinetic energy of cars. He was awarded 1st<\/sup> Place in Intermediate Physical Sciences, the EirGrid Cleaner Energy Award and Runner Up Best Project for this work.<\/p>\n

Fifth Year students Diana Sholomko and Anzhela Maduabum were awarded 1st<\/sup> Place in the Senior Technology Category as well as the Spectrum Signs Best Group Display Award. Their project was titled \u201cUsing Technology to Optimise Drying of Clothes in Irish Unpredictable Weather\u201d. The students, who are originally from Urkania, designed a Technology system using BBC Micro:Bits and Humidity and Temperature Sensors to monitor weather conditions, sending alerts to householders, ultimately saving costly energy expenses.<\/p>\n

For her project \u2018Crouch-Bind-Set\u2026PROTECT\u2019, Mollie Quinn won the NISO Health and Safety 2nd<\/sup> Place Award for her project which investigated the materials most suitable for use in scrum caps to reduce concussions in sports.<\/p>\n

2nd<\/sup> year student Rachel Coghlan won 3rd<\/sup> Place in the Junior Physical Sciences Individual Category for her project \u2018Is Homegrown Healthier? An Analysis of the Vitamin C Content and Carbon Footprint of both Irish and Imported Fruit\u2019.<\/p>\n

1st<\/sup> year Ally Duffy won 2nd<\/sup> Place in the Junior Physical Sciences Individual Category for her project \u2018Alternative Construction Methods to Solve Ireland\u2019s Housing Crisis\u2019. In her project, Ally compared the thermal properties of a variety of housing models.<\/p>\n

Aoife Howlin, Aoibhinn Kelly and Meabh Gorman won 3rd<\/sup> place in the Junior Physical Sciences Group Category for their project \u2018Ashen Alchemy: Crafting Sustainable Soap\u00a0from Fire\u2019. In their project they isolated bases from soap and examined their suitability for use in soap production.<\/p>\n

Doireann Keena, Lucy Keane and Niamh Noone were awarded 1st<\/sup> Place in the Junior Physical Sciences Group Category for their project \u2018Glow Guard Jewels: Utilising the UV Sensitivity of Crystals to Produce Jewellery to Promote Sun Safety\u2019. In their project they tested whether different crystals would be suitable for use in a warning mechanism to alert consumers of the overuse of UV radiation in nail treatments.<\/p>\n

Leah Winters and Millie O\u2019Donovan won 1st<\/sup> Place in Junior Group Life Sciences for their project \u2018BioGuard: A Sustainable Weedkiller for the Future\u2019.<\/p>\n

TY students Ciona Lawless, Lauren Fox and Niamh Heduvan were \u2018Highly Commended\u2019 in the Intermediate Life Sciences Category for their project \u2018Lead Busters: Harnessing Invertebrates for Soil Clean-up in Developing Countries\u2019.<\/p>\n

Nine other projects from MCS students were presented on the day at TUS:<\/strong><\/p>\n

In her project, \u2018Establishing the Effects of Antibiotics on Plant Growth\u2019, Sorcha Aspell studied the impact of the agricultural release of antibiotics on grassland habitats.<\/p>\n

For their project \u2018Eco Methane: Investigating the Effectiveness of Alternative Diets at Minimising Bovine Methane Emissions\u2019, Lucy Browne and Lucy Carroll studied the methane production of groups of cattle fed different diets.<\/p>\n

In their project \u2018Ivy Eyed: Harnessing Natures Remedy for Ovine Eye Infections\u2019, Grainne Coolohan and Leah McCaul investigated the effectiveness of different plant extracts at treating snow blindness in sheep.<\/p>\n

Gemma Coolohan and Hallie Dunne investigated whether different additives could reduce the spoilage of cut flowers in their project \u2018Solute Solutions: Enhancing Cut Flower Longevity\u2019.<\/p>\n

In their project \u201cOur Turlough at D\u00fan Na S\u00ed \u2013 An Analysis of Water Quality to Support Biodiversity\u201d, Elodie and Illaria Cullen and Aoibhin Doyle investigated the Abiotic and Biotic factors of water samples from the turlough supporting its diverse range of plants and animals.<\/p>\n

Ella Lacy and Sarah Keane\u2019s project \u2018pH Mara: Utilising Native Seaweeds to Reduce Carbon Footprint on Dairy Farms\u2019 involved investigating the suitability of seaweed species for use in carbon storage systems.<\/p>\n

S\u00e9an Farrelly investigated the links between the public\u2019s susceptibility to misinformation and their source of news in his project \u2018Media and Misinformation: Investigating the Effect of Media Source on the Public\u2019s Perception of News Events\u2019.<\/p>\n

Seara Henson and Eva Fox\u2019s project \u20185G Radiation: A Help or Hindrance to Biological Processes?\u2019 investigated the effect of 5G masts on the both flora and fauna.<\/p>\n

Aaron Fegan\u2019s project \u2018Diverse Minds, Unified Learning: Making Education Inclusive for Students with Autism\u2019 studied various environmental conditions that affect the learning of students on the autism spectrum.<\/p>\n

In total 220 projects were showcased on the day at TUS, from schools all over the midlands. Competition was high. The standard of projects was exceeded previous years, but the judges were as always amazing, encouraging and interested to find out about the student\u2019s investigations. Judging took place over 2 hours in the morning, with students being interviewed by two to eight judges, depending.<\/p>\n

Congratulations to all the MCS students who presented their projects on the day.<\/p>\n

Names for Group Photo<\/u><\/p>\n

Front Row: Leah Winters, Ciona Lawless, Gemma Coolohan, Hallie Dunne, Lucy Brown, Aoibheann Kelly, Aoife Howlin, Aaron Feagan and Se\u00e1n Farrelly<\/p>\n

Back Row: Ella Lacey, Sarah Keane, Seara Hensen, Millie O\u2019Donovan, Laura Fox, Niamh Heduvan, Eva Fox, ~Mollie Quinn, Niamh Noone, Allie Duffy, Lucy Keane, Maebh Gorman, Fionn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There were huge achievements for Moate Community School students in this year\u2019s SciFest Regional Final at TUS (Technological University of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14822,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/moatecs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/SciFest2024.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moatecs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14821"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moatecs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moatecs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moatecs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moatecs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14821"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/moatecs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14824,"href":"https:\/\/moatecs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14821\/revisions\/14824"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moatecs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moatecs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moatecs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moatecs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}