Community school buzzing with €5k win
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The Students of Bailieborough Community School celebrating their win last week.Image 2 of 3
Students and teachers of Bailieborough Community holding up the winning picture.Image 3 of 3
CUAN Cancer Support Open Day. Kevin Reilly, Hugh Reilly, Maria Brady and Anthoney Davey.Bailieborough Community School is buzzing with €5,000 prize from Lidl Ireland.
The secondary school was awarded the prize for submitting a fantastic photo captured for the Gaisce ‘See Your Bees’ competition.
Students of the community school were delighted with the win.
“It feels amazing, I can’t believe it,” says fifth year student Andrea Gillick Uceda.
“It’s honestly such an achievement for our students and that money is going towards so many great adventures, activities and fun things for the students.”
Another student, Joe Farrelly, praised the teacher who coordinated the school’s approach to the competition. “It feels good to win, everyone put a lot of work into Gaisce, Ms McGovern especially throughout the year, and it feels good to have won it”
Accepting the prize with her TY class, Joanne McGovern, President Award Leader at Bailieborough Community School, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to win this competition, and we can’t wait to get planning for next Gaisce adventure journey where our students work together to plan an expedition or exploration from beginning to end.
“This prize will ensure we can make the trip totally accessible to our Gaisce programme participants and also purchase resources and equipment, which will benefit young people at the school for years to come.”
Last year, Gaisce Award participants and communities across Ireland planted a whopping half a million pollinator-friendly bulbs as part of a nationwide call to action to save Ireland’s bee population and to educate communities on the value of Ireland’s rich biodiversity and the importance of pollinators.
As part of the campaign, Lidl Ireland came on board with ‘See Your Bees’, a nationwide photography competition with a prize of €5,000 up for grabs for the winning Gaisce Award group – requiring entrants to showcase an Irish bee landing on a pollinator friendly flower in bloom. With the support of well known TV personality, wildlife expert and biologist Éanna Ní Lamhna, hundreds of entries from across every county in Ireland were judged.
The Lidl Ireland and Gaisce #SeeYourBees photo competition received over 300 entries with 80 of them competing for the grand prize.
“Bailieborough has been an exceptional school for two decades with Gaisce and has brilliant adult mentors and teachers who act as President’s Award Leaders in the school,” says Mary Yore, the President’s Award Development Officer.