TY End of Year Show

Last Wednesday, the 24th of May, we held the annual End Of Year Show in the centenary hall. It was a very enjoyable night, with awards given out and performances put on. Our class board display was up full of photos, awards and keepsakes from the year.

The big winners of the awards were Orla O' Reilly who won the Co-ordinator's Award given by Mr.Kissane, Mary O'Connell and Darragh Boyd who won TY of the year.
In total, 74 awards were given out by Ms. McElligott, Ms. Farrell, and the rest of the core team.
We were also treated with a performance by Mr.Kneeshaw's ukulele group.

In the second half of the night, TY Drama classes put on their performances. We saw 4.1's 'Fame', 4.4's 'Gogglebox' and 4.3's impressive '12 Angry People', as well as many more amazing performances.

Overall, the end of year show was definitely memorable, and will be some TY's favourite event. It's crazy to see that the show has passed, and that TY is well and truly over, until Friday, when we go to the Maharees!

Richard Moore Talk

                                               On March 14th, TY was treated to a very special talk. Ms. O'Shea Daly organised and invited Mr. Richard Moore to come speak to us in the centenary hall.

Richard spoke to us about his memory of being shot near the eye by a soldier when he was just five years old. He also told us the incredible story of how he found the name of the soldier who shot him and got into contact with him and eventually they met each other and are still friends today.

His story is an inspiring one and really interesting to hear about his life living in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.

His main aim of speaking with us was to teach us an example of forgiveness. He preached that forgiveness is the way forward and his story set a very clear precedent.

It was an an honour to be able to listen to his story and then ask him questions. Thanks to Ms. O'Shea Daly for organising this.

                                                   Written by Majella Votta 

Waiting for Godot by Dorcas Oyewande

On the 7th of May, the TY's accompanied by their teachers were given the opportunity to see the play "Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Beckett in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. After leaving at 7:30, we made one stop on the way before arriving into Dublin City. There, we were given an hour and a half to explore and get food before meeting outside the Theatre at 1:30 to regroup and collect our tickets. The play lasted for around two and a half hours, with an interval breaking it up.

The play is based on the theory of Absurdism, which relates to the belief that human beings exist in a purposeless, chaotic universe, as well as intentionally ridiculous or bizarre behaviour or character (though almost every person has a different idea of the true meaning of the play). This topic was expressed excellently though compelling dialogue and hilarious scenarios and intriguing characters.

Although the set was quite bare (simply featuring a large, flat stone and a bare tree), it expressed the themes of the play explicitly and you could tell that it was expertly crafted. As for the costuming, it seemed as though the attire each character wore matched their personality and aspirations, which was very pleasing. 


Overall, it was an outstanding play and I am extremely happy to have been able to experience it. 

Guinness World Record

On Friday 24th of March, Mounthawk TY students in conjunction with IT Tralee and in aid of Kerry Arthritic Association broke the Guinness World Record for Most Amount of People Dressed As Ghosts.

The previous record was around the 250 mark. We had over 560 participants so we are hopeful that we can secure the World Record. We will be informed if our event was successful in six weeks.

The day before and day-of the event was very hectic in the centenary hall and the school was full of energy. Ms. Hunt and her COSI group as well as volunteer TY's collected, measured, fit and cut the white sheets for first, second, fourth and fifth years. Massive dedication and commitment were showcased by the students and teachers involved.

Here is a video of the attempt and below are photos of the preparation and the actual event. You can find it Mercy Mounthawk's Twitter page.
 https://twitter.com/MounthawkMercy/status/845318731978956804

Spin South West helped us to celebrate the event!

Written by Majella Votta

Literacy Week - Book Character Dress-Up Day!

To end a wonderful Literacy Week, the school had a 'Book Character Dress-Up Day', TY's and some teachers dressed up as their favourite book characters.

There were 2 competitions for TY's, a Best-Dressed Competition for the students with the best costumes, and a competition to guess all the characters the teachers were dressed up as.

The effort was admirable and it was great to see so many people dressed as their favourite characters.

written by Majella Votta

Literacy Week - Poetry Aloud

The first ever Mercy Mounthawk Poetry Aloud Competition was held on Thursday, 2nd of March, in the library.

The competition was organised by Ms. Thornton, and it was open for 4th and 5th years to enter.

The poems recited had to be taken from the 2018 Leaving Cert Course.

The contestants were: Rachel Deasy (5th yr), Gerald Tansley (5th yr), Ellen Gercik (TY), Sean Trant (5th yr), Olivia Moriarty (5th yr), Darragh Clarke (5th yr), and Hugo Wells (5th yr).

The competition was judged by TY's who competed in the National Poetry Competition last October/November. They were Éidín Dowling, Shauna Flynn and Majella Votta.

The top three were: Darragh Clarke who came 3rd, Rachel Deasy who came 2nd, and Sean Trant who won the competition. He won a 30 euro book voucher for any bookshop in the country.

Congrats to Sean and to all the other participants who performed brilliantly. Thanks to Ms.Thornton for organising the event.

written by Majella Votta

Literacy Week - Word Zone

On Wednesday 1st March, TY's ran a 'Word Zone' for 2nd-year students. The centenary hall was alive with activity. TY's had been preparing their games for weeks, the first meetings for this day had been ongoing since November.

From 9:10 am to 12:35 pm, 2nd year and 5th-year students were brought to the hall to participate in the games and activities set up. Some of them include; Black-Out Poetry, Giant Scrabble, Word Jumble, Guess the Book, and The Chase.

The 2nd-years were very happy to miss a couple classes and participate in the games.The 5th years enjoyed the activities too.

It was a tremendous success,  a lot of positive feedback was given back by the students and Literacy Week was the highlight of TY for some TY's.



written by Majella Votta