Newsletter Summer 2011
TEXACO ART— Winners & Highly Commended
Amy Millar
In addition, twenty two students were were highly
commended for their artistic
endeavours:
Oenone Stafford 5th
year
Charmane MacArthur
2nd yr
Fionnuala O’Toole
2nd yr
Keelagh Gregan TY
Sara Balaban
yr
Amy Miller
Aine Collier,
Jade Saila,
Amy O’Shaughnessy,
Chelsea Phelan,
Weronida Piwka,
Ellen Roche,
Lee Lacey,
Jenny Wright
Lauren Redmond,
Monika Werra.
Melissa O’Connor,
2nd
1st yr
Aoibheann Doyle,
Rebecca Grannell,
Aliesha Kirwan,
Roisin O’Reilly,
Mollie Sinnott,
Amy O Shaughnessy
2nd yr
Colm Stafford,
Ronan Bradbury,
Jane Strydom 1st yr
Kayleigh Brauner,
Lee Berns 1st yr
Chelsea Brun,
Maeve O’ Callaghan
2nd year.
Corey Chambers,
Keelagh Gregan
Sara Balaban
Special Merit B
End of Year Awards
Amy O’Shaughnessy
6th year
Aisling na Oige
Award
Colin French
Lorraine Brennan
Eileen Barrington
Award
Mollie Sinnot /Sean
Lawlor.
TY
Aoife Browne/Richard
Deering
3rd Year
Colin Browne
Byrne-Perry History
Award
Rachel Murphy
Dylan Crosbie
Spirit of LCA
Award
Brian Sutherland,Stephen
McDonell (runners-up)
Eileen Roche
5th year
Michael Dwyer
Fr Forde Literary
Award
2nd Year
Sean Walsh
1st Year
Frank Sweeney
Award
Daniel Smyth
Stephen McDonnell.
Olivia Porter
Saoirse Condren
The students of
the year in 6th
and 3rd year
also received
Bank of Ireland
Trophies
Lee Berns
Byrne Perry
Scholarship
Charmane McArthur
Newsletter Summer 2011
Berlin trip
A group of thirty eight History students set off on a 4-day, action-packed tour of one of the most famous cities in the world. The
trip took in many of the highlights and iconic sites of the German capital. On arrival, the students and teachers were treated to
an insider tour by a Berliner - tour guide Markus recalled growing up in a divided city; its atmosphere and difficulties. The
group were brought to areas where remnants of the Berlin Wall still stand and were told about the dangers of trying to escape to
a life in the west which had plenty of 'fast-moving cars, fashion and bananas.!’ Trips through the numerous trendy neighbourhoods in the city today, such as the Turkish-influenced Kreuzberg were part of the itinerary.
A visit to Sachsenhausen concentration camp and then a fabulous four-hour walking tour, took place, taking in aspects of the
Third Reich. The History gang were amazed to see where the once mighty Hitler Chancellery once stood. Today it's a car
park! Architectural highlights included the Norman Foster dome of the famous parliament building.
Day three included a visit to the leafy suburb of Wannsee and a visit to the house where the conference for the Final Solution to rid Europe of its Jews - was hatched. Another tour, again by an insider who resides in the city, took in aspects of the Cold
War, including the spot where the border guards finally allowed east Berliners to exit to the west on the historic night of 9 November 1989. The students enjoyed experiencing Berlin culture, travelling on the underground train and sampling the famous
curry sausage- the Berliner, the excellent doughnut which was even (accidentally) mentioned by the late President John F Kennedy on his historic trip to the Berlin Wall in the summer of 1963.
Report by Ms Elizabeth Russell
Istanbul and Troy
Well the great news is that we arrived back with the same
number of pupils with which we had left! Whether they are
the same pupils that we left with, remains to be seen. On
arriving in Istanbul we met Hakan, our tour guide, and the
man who can arrange anything for us, in his country ( despite the fact he looked seriously dodgey )! The Hopaki
palace and the blue Mosque in Istanbul were amazing, then
Hakan brought us to meet his ‘good friends ‘ who made
carpets ? and Turkish delight?
We quickly learned to drink the free apple tea, which was
yummy, and so was the Turkish delight. Eoin ( 2nd year )
tried to escape from the group, near the palace, but we
found him! We didn’t get to meet the Muftii, but a suitable
Muftii hat was purchased for Mr. Cassidy. Miss O’Grady
had become Miss O.G at this stage, and was listening to G6
on her Mp thingey?!
Bursa was really cool. Some random old lady insisted on
giving us all flags ( for free ) for our group photo, being
taken by some random German ? The putting on and off of
the shoes, as we entered the Mosque was a sight to behold,
last time we’ll be invited there We’d have put less mess on
the good carpet if some people had left their shoes on.
Strange sight to see the girls go all eastern and don silk
head scarfs and hoodies !! The hotel in Bursa was amazing,
Miss O’Reilly and Miss O.G. managed to get official looking Turkish ID badges?? None for Mr. Cassidy.
Troy was ??? hmmmmh? Freezin! It was so cold that the
horse was tiny and we had to take turns wearing each others’ clothes, in case we froze. True to form, Miss O’Reilly
managed to get about 4 jackets, and they all complemented her borrowed hat. Everybody made a really huge
effort to keep their brains from freezing, long enough to
appreciate Troy. Then we all pulled the horses tail and
checked out his insides before bailing on to the warm bus?
Got to see the real horse, from the film, later that night.
Have to say it was the better of the two, even if you couldn’t pull it’s tail?
Back to Istanbul for a cruise on the Bosphorus - Wow!
some really cool palaces. Third boat of the trip and
Gemma C didn’t puke!!
On the last night Hakan brought us to the ‘Grafton Street’
of Istanbul, to hang out, the way the Turks do-a cool way
to finish up.
With the exception of one nose bleed, Mr. Cassidy didn’t
get to use his huge first aid box ( half his suit case ? ),
thankfully.
Report by Mr. Sean Cassidy
Page 3
Walking the Camino
Italian Exchange
We departed Thursday 28th April to Castiglioni Fiorentino in Tuscany with 33 students
Two groups of TY students took the Annual
GCS walk on The Camino
Group 1 was led by Ms Eleanor O’Reilly
Mr Quinlan, Ms Moran and Mr Jimmy
Smyth and walked from the beautiful historical city of Santiago De Compostela to Finisterre (literally means the end of the earth)
from Transition Year. A Cultural and Educational trip which has been running for the past
11yrs the tour includes visits to the Florence,
Rome and Bologna to see the world renowned cultural areas of interest.
Fionnula O’Toole special merit B
The students become totally immersed in the
Italian language and culture as they stay with
host families. This year’s link theme is Story- The Global Outreach
telling. The group are linked in with the participants from the previous year exchange.
of
Past students involved in the exchange have
gone on to study Italian ab initio at third level. Gorey Community School
Mr Marshall
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LCVP Fundraise for
Vincent De Paul
The second group of 26 students was led by
Ms Keegan, Mr O’Brien, Mr O’Sullivan,
Ms McCarthy, Mr Conroy and Ms Kehoe.
They treaded the ancient pilgrimage path from
Triacastla to Santiago de Compostela a distance of 134 km, averaging 23 km /per day.
Each night they stayed in the refugios, hostel
style accommodation, along the route.
Gambia Fundraiser and Trip
Before embarking on the trip, TY students raised €19,500 through numerous fundraising events,
including fashion shows, coffee mornings and bag packing. This money was brought to the Gambia and
used to help change the lives of many Gambian citizens.
Students visited four of the five schools which were built with the support of successive groups of
TY students and their parents. The students also spent two days in the bush, visited an orphanage, and a
historical slave house.
A spokesperson for the group said that it had been ‘a life-
5th year LCVP classes (3) at
Gorey Community School recently undertook a charity walk
from the school to Ballyloughan
and back recently to raise funds
for the Gorey branch of St. Vincent de Paul.
They persuaded family and
friends to part with some cash
by way of sponsorship, and
they were delighted last week
to hand over € 785 to the
charity.
changing experience’ for the students, and a journey ‘we
will never forget.’ Mr Hegarty and Ms Byrne accompanied the group, some of whom are pictured here with
Tommy Conroy, who has successfully led the Gambia
Project for the past twelve years!
Florence Art Trip
The cheque was accepted on
behalf of VdeP by volunteer
Maureen Fortune who outlined
the organisation's work. She
said the money will be put towards the sheltered housing
project just off St. Michael's
Road.
A group of 43 students (TY/5th yr), with Mr
McCloskey, Ms. Whelan, Ms. McCorry and Ms.
Comisky arrived on April 8th in sun baked Italy for a tour
of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Florentine art and
architecture.
They basked in the beauty of the rolling hills of Tuscany
and were awestruck by the magnificence of Santa Maria
Del Fiore Cathedral, Brunelleschi’s Doumo, Pitti Palace,
Ghiberti’s Babtistry Doors, Santa Maria del Carmine,
Michaelangelo’s Statue of David, Donatello’s Adore at the
Bargello andLeonardo’s The Last Supper, in Milan.
Special congratulations were
sent to Craig Bodger who
raised the most money. The
event was organised by the
students and teachers
Ms.Lenihan, Ms. Moore,
Ms.Fennell, Ms. Nangle, Ms.
Whelan and Ms.Counihan.
Thanks were sent to everyone
who supported the event.
Oenone Stafford 3rd Category A
The concentration of those famous works in and around
Florence, makes this trip an invaluable one for students of
Art and inspires many of our students to study the subject at
third level.
Mr. Paul McCloskey
Soccer news On Friday May 20th GCS took on Wexford Vocational School in the U-13 quarter
final of the Wexford GCS team: Corey Chambers, Sam Fidler, Michael Quigley, (Man of the
Match), David Curley, (Goal of the game) James Lynch, Oisin Hobbs, Conor Levingstone, Paul
Brennan, Adam Dunbar, Jordan Sinnott, Dylan Kearon.
Subs: Paul Murphy, Ryan Cullen, Bobby O’Sullivan, Killian Cushe, Eoin McGuckin, Conor Gibson. Final score 7-2 in favour of GCS. The semi final against St. David’s, Greystones was played
on Friday May 27th. Gorey won easily 4-0. Next match against Colaiste Brid, Carnew on Friday
June 3rd.
Coach Mr. John Burke. Report by Dylan Kenny
Sailing Champion
Congratulations to Philip Doran, fifth
year who won the Irish Sailing
Association Mitsubishi National Youth
Championships in Dun Laoghaire and
will now go on to represent Ireland at
the ISAF Youth World Championships in
Zadar, Croatia next July. Philip has
won numerous competitions in the
Taking home a medal for Ireland and his home town,
David Kennedy 3rd year of Gorey Boxing Club secured
bronze in an international competition.
Track and Field
Congratulations
Orla Furney TY
Nadine Kenny 2nd year,
on their achievements in
qualifying and performing
successfully in the Leinster Track n Field events
Also
John Redmond and Matthew Kehoe both ran in
1,100 m Kilkenny in April
while Alex Boland and
Josh O Neill 2nd year both
participated in the Junior
100m
He had travelled to Azerbaijan with the Irish boxing team
to compete in the Heydar President's Cup. He won
bronze, after he beat Veleh Mekhribon of Tajikistan. He
then lost to Katamadge Irakily of Georgia in the semifinal.
David is currently training with the Irish squad, and
hopes to secure a place on the Irish team which will
travel to Hungary for the European Championships in this
coming June.
1st Year History Quiz
Sports Awards
6th year
All first year History classes
were involved this year - early
Equestrian
heats were held in class and then
Laura Nixon
the semi and grand finals were
Caroline Doyle
held at lunchtime .
Jane Styrdom Sp. Mrt C
Yvonne Furney
After a very close competition,
the team from Ms Cullen's class
emerged victorious. The students involved are:
Andrew Hook, Andrew
past both at national and at an
international level. He has been Irish
Youth Sailor of the Year twice and won
the U16 Youth World Championship in
Croatia and the U17 Youth World
Championship in Japan. Philip aims to
be an Olympian one day and believes
that he can achieve this goal. The
ISAF Youth World Championship in
Croatia is seen as second to the
Olympics in the sailing world.
Lambert, Cathal Murphy
and Adam Gibney.
Congratulation to Tommy
Flavin and his team for the
Badminton Noel Kinsella creatively produced 2011Yearbook– beautiful photography!
Tommy is one of the students
Ladies Football
involved in Tedsbeard ProEimear Prendergast
duction. (see U-Tube)
Ciara McGlynn
With Evan Ryan and Kevin
O’ Reagan, he has produced
short interesting films which
can be viewed on U-Tube.
Man on a Mountain is one.
Hurling
Jack Hobbs Eddie Hughes Colin French and Rosie
Byrne and James Comerford
were involved in Chairs- a
Gaelic Football
film they made during TY and
Shane-Langan Murphy
with James Clisby on board
Pierce Maxwell
they entered it in Dublin 2009
Panel List for South Lein- Film Festival and followed it
with a piece based on a Cadster Championship and
bury ad. Tommy wrote VIVA
Keevans Cup U18 see
for Arts week in GCS. We
previous newsletter for
look forward to future creanames
tive endeavours.
Rugby
Killian Breen
The team from Ms Power's class Frank Bellanova
were runners-up; students from
this team are: Matthew Kehoe,
Alex Byrne, Sarah Fitzgerald,
Zahra Siouane. Just one point
behind in 3rd place were: Evan
Dwyer, Conor Cummins,
Jack O'Grady and Lorna
Cushe from Ms Russell's class.
Good Luck to all our exam students. Go n-eiri an t-adh libh go leir. Is feidir libh!
To all the school community of students, staff, parents and guardians
Have a great summer 2011!