Five Cavan schools to exhibit at Young Scientist
Five schools across County Cavan are set to battle it out with hundreds of others nationwide in the BT Young Scientist Exhibition next week.
Set to take place from January 10-13, Cavan schools will showcase 13 projects during the national competition.
The successful schools from Cavan include Breifne College, Cavan Town; St Bricin’s College, Belturbet; Virginia College and Coláiste Dún an Rí Kingscourt, all under the auspices of Cavan Monaghan Education and Training Board; while Loreto College, Cavan Town, has also had a number of entries qualify.
A group from Breifne College entered their project ‘Distillation Engine’ in the Technology category.
Coláiste Dún an Rí has a group project under the Health & Wellbeing section entitled ‘How development squads affect the mental health of teenagers’.
A second group of pupils from the Kingscourt school will present ‘An investigated study into the many different usages of photocatalysis’ in the
Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences competition; while an individual entry from the same school ‘What are you drinking?’ falls under the Biological & Ecological category.
Another individual from Loreto College in Cavan looks at ‘The Pink Tax- Wealth over Women’ under the Social & Behavioural Sciences section.
A group from the same school, competing in the same category, will exhibit ‘From Grave to Blaze: Uncovering the Cremation Craze’.
St Bricin’s College in Belturbet have two group projects in the mix - ‘Navigating the flood: Assessing the Effects of Water Stress Priming on Plant Stress Tolerance’ in the Biological & Ecological section.
Another group of students will present ‘Evaluating the Impact of Hospital Visibility and Scholarly Contributions – An Intra-Country and Inter-Country Comparison’ in the Social & Behavioural Sciences section.
Four groups from Virginia College will be exhibiting across a range of categories. Their projects are titled: ‘Mismatched Medics: An analysis of the inadequacy of skin-color-matching plasters in promoting inclusiveness’ (Health & Wellbeing); ‘In the Eyes of the Beholder: An investigation into testing the Accuracy of eyewitness Testimonies in criminal convictions’ (Social & Behavioural Sciences); ‘The Green Goddess Experiment: A comprehensive examination on exploring optimal components for an Eco-friendly Dry Shampoo’ (Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences);
‘You had me at Aloe! An investigation into the antifungal efficacy of Aloe vera in vitro and its use as a treatment to maintain post harvest table Berry quality’ (Biological & Ecological) and ‘Different Club Different Game’ (Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences).
In this region, Ballybay Community College and Largy College, Clones, both also CMETB schools, are also among the 550 exhibitors nationally.
In a statement from the CMETB, wishing students good luck, it praised the diversity and quality of the projects from schools under its remit, saying it underscores the “depth of talent within the local student body”.
CMETB has secured the second-highest rate of qualified projects among 13 ETB networks in Ireland, showcasing the exceptional talent and dedication within the local educational community across the two counties of Cavan and Monaghan.
The BT Young Scientist Exhibition is a platform that celebrates innovation, curiosity, and scientific exploration among young minds. The remarkable accomplishment of CMETB schools reflects the commitment to fostering a culture of scientific inquiry and academic excellence.
Artificial Intelligence (AI), Diversity & Inclusion and Mental Health are three emerging trends that 2024 BTYSTE entrants want to learn more about
Of all the submissions for the 2024 exhibition, the most common project titles are focused on health (16%) - mental, menstrual, sleep, medicine, ageing, behaviour. Mental health project entries covered a broad range of topics, such as beauty standards, sports performance, exercise and sleep. Some two per cent of all entries specifically investigated the health and environmental implications of vaping, which suggests the awareness and concerns of young people around vaping.