make a difference day
on Tuesday the 5 th of September I woke up early to start work on make a difference day. We drove to St. Brigids national school in Tallaght. Myself, Jack, Sean and Hubie were all prepared to do hard work. When we arrived we saw the site the project was taking place. A company called Avalon decided that they would make a difference by completely changing the lives of the children in the st Brigids school who would not have much money or opportunity. Avalon would be investing in a new playground for the school as well as a football pitch, nature trail and outdoor classrooms.
We spent the first day digging holes and painting to get things ready for the big day the following week. While we were working the children came over to us with joy and happiness while they were excited to see their playground be prepared. This added more enjoyment to our work as we could see that we were making a huge difference. I was absolutely exhausted when I got home that night. We were lifting a lot of wood and digging many holes.
I could not do it for the rest of the weeks because I broke my collar so unfortunately I could not finish job and Hugo Mccabe took my place to finish it.
We spent the first day digging holes and painting to get things ready for the big day the following week. While we were working the children came over to us with joy and happiness while they were excited to see their playground be prepared. This added more enjoyment to our work as we could see that we were making a huge difference. I was absolutely exhausted when I got home that night. We were lifting a lot of wood and digging many holes.
I could not do it for the rest of the weeks because I broke my collar so unfortunately I could not finish job and Hugo Mccabe took my place to finish it.
laura lynn
On the week of November 6-10th I worked in Laura Lynn’s work experience program for transition year students. I attended this with Jack Tuthill and two other girls from Loreto Foxrock and Holy Child Killiney. We started on Monday at 10 in the morning. We were introduced with a talk about the history of Laura Lynn as a charity and as the only children's hospice in Ireland and how they got their name . Throughout Monday we were touring the hospice and the disabled area of the building and were introduced by all the staff members. Although Monday was not the greatest day it was still amazing to see what goes on in Laura Lynn
Tuesday was another disappointing day. We spent most of the day listing toys that the charity has to give out to kids. This included getting the name of the toy, the manufacturer of the toy, giving a brief description of the toy, giving the type of toy, the age group of the toy and finally the quantity of the toy. Although we had to sort through about a thousand toys we were able to get them all written up in one working day. Although Tuesday was a lot of work we got to play with a few of the kids in the hospice for about a half-hour. We did a musical therapy session with them. This was a challenge as all of the kids in the hospice that day were in wheelchairs and could not hold or play an instrument. We soon learned that if we are singing a song you have to do what the song says; for example, if the song says “touch your head" you touch the child's head to help them comprehend the song. This made me think about how lucky i am and should be thankful for what I have in life
Wednesday was without a doubt the best day of the week. On wednesday we spent all day in the Children's hospice. We started the day reading interactive stories to two boys named Issam and Cian. They seemed enjoy the gruffalo story a lot because we used puppet during the story. After this some music was turned on one of the kids named Kuba really started to dance in his wheelchair. He had a specific move which was throwing his arms and legs around in the air. We started to call this dance “The Kuba”. Everyone joined in on “the Kuba” and it was really fun. After lunch we did another musical therapy session. After the musical therapy session we dressed up as Minions, Pikachu, and Spongebob for one of the kids named Aaron. We danced to one song called “Happy” this was really fun but also extremely hot! This was one of the best experiences of my life. I learned so much about how tough life can be sometimes and to see these kids enjoying themselves after having been through what they have been through is amazing.
On Thursday we returned to the grooling work we did on tuesday. Only this time instead of writing out the information we had previously written down, we now had to type it all up on a microsoft spreadsheet. Although this was the first time I have ever used a microsoft spreadsheet I caught on quickly and got them all typed up quicker than expected. After this, we dressed up in the costumes again for Aaron and danced this time it was to “Dancing Queen” although it was again, really hot, it made my day seeing Aaron's face light up. The time to take off the costumes and go back to work came quicker than expected, this time however, we were to clean out a closet. This was a task that took us the rest of the day but we did eventually finish it. Thursday was a day that had it’s fun parts.
Friday was our final day. Although I went in there expecting to get to do something fun this was not to be. It was back to sorting through more toys. This took us all day as we were let out early. After the toys, we said a quick goodbye to everyone we had met throughout the week and a special one to Lorna who was our boss for the week.
This week made me thankful of how lucky I am and also made me realise that hard work pays off.
Tuesday was another disappointing day. We spent most of the day listing toys that the charity has to give out to kids. This included getting the name of the toy, the manufacturer of the toy, giving a brief description of the toy, giving the type of toy, the age group of the toy and finally the quantity of the toy. Although we had to sort through about a thousand toys we were able to get them all written up in one working day. Although Tuesday was a lot of work we got to play with a few of the kids in the hospice for about a half-hour. We did a musical therapy session with them. This was a challenge as all of the kids in the hospice that day were in wheelchairs and could not hold or play an instrument. We soon learned that if we are singing a song you have to do what the song says; for example, if the song says “touch your head" you touch the child's head to help them comprehend the song. This made me think about how lucky i am and should be thankful for what I have in life
Wednesday was without a doubt the best day of the week. On wednesday we spent all day in the Children's hospice. We started the day reading interactive stories to two boys named Issam and Cian. They seemed enjoy the gruffalo story a lot because we used puppet during the story. After this some music was turned on one of the kids named Kuba really started to dance in his wheelchair. He had a specific move which was throwing his arms and legs around in the air. We started to call this dance “The Kuba”. Everyone joined in on “the Kuba” and it was really fun. After lunch we did another musical therapy session. After the musical therapy session we dressed up as Minions, Pikachu, and Spongebob for one of the kids named Aaron. We danced to one song called “Happy” this was really fun but also extremely hot! This was one of the best experiences of my life. I learned so much about how tough life can be sometimes and to see these kids enjoying themselves after having been through what they have been through is amazing.
On Thursday we returned to the grooling work we did on tuesday. Only this time instead of writing out the information we had previously written down, we now had to type it all up on a microsoft spreadsheet. Although this was the first time I have ever used a microsoft spreadsheet I caught on quickly and got them all typed up quicker than expected. After this, we dressed up in the costumes again for Aaron and danced this time it was to “Dancing Queen” although it was again, really hot, it made my day seeing Aaron's face light up. The time to take off the costumes and go back to work came quicker than expected, this time however, we were to clean out a closet. This was a task that took us the rest of the day but we did eventually finish it. Thursday was a day that had it’s fun parts.
Friday was our final day. Although I went in there expecting to get to do something fun this was not to be. It was back to sorting through more toys. This took us all day as we were let out early. After the toys, we said a quick goodbye to everyone we had met throughout the week and a special one to Lorna who was our boss for the week.
This week made me thankful of how lucky I am and also made me realise that hard work pays off.
st john of gods
On the 11th of December Hubie and I started our first day at St John Of God in Glenageary. This counted as my community service week. We started at 9 in the morning and we were brought down the road to the garden centre and introduced to everyone. We were at this centre for the whole week. We started at 9:30 am and finished at 3:00 pm We were split up at this point even though we were in the same building, Hubie was upstairs helping and I was downstairs playing with the really kind people . The second day, I helped in the centre, and I played games with the adults, for example, we did puzzles, watch some tv and we did a few drawings. On Wednesday eight of us drove to another centre, where we danced and sang, this around an hour or two until we had to be back for lunch. Every day Daniel and I ate in the canteen. for the rest of the day, I helped around the centre. Thursday was the day we went to mass, a few of us walked down while others drove. After lunch, I went to the dun laoghaire shopping centre to find some Christmas decorations. Friday was my last day, we stayed at the centre and played games for the whole day and watch the movie Elf. All together this week was amazing and everyone at St John Of God was so nice.
Ardagh group work experience
For my Transition Year week I went to work in a company where my dad works called Ardagh Group. I worked there with my friend called Hugo. This is a very large glass and metal company.
In Ardagh I got a better understanding of how a company is run and all different departments which keep it running. Each department gave us a presentation on what they do such as Finance, Internal controls, Procurement and many more.
During the week Hugo and i got to shadow different jobs. I found this extremely interesting as i got to see what they do on a day to day basis. I shadowed internal controls and tax with Hugo. In tax i got to see them deal with 100's of millions of euros.
On Thursday we went to Glasgow for the day to see a glass bottle factory. The factory was very loud and hot. I found it very interesting to see how the bottles were made from start to finish.
In Ardagh I got a better understanding of how a company is run and all different departments which keep it running. Each department gave us a presentation on what they do such as Finance, Internal controls, Procurement and many more.
During the week Hugo and i got to shadow different jobs. I found this extremely interesting as i got to see what they do on a day to day basis. I shadowed internal controls and tax with Hugo. In tax i got to see them deal with 100's of millions of euros.
On Thursday we went to Glasgow for the day to see a glass bottle factory. The factory was very loud and hot. I found it very interesting to see how the bottles were made from start to finish.
The suns newspaper
on Tuesday the 27th of February I started my very short work experience in the sun newspaper. I got to work for my cousin Barry Moran. Unfortunately Due to the snow I was only able to work for two days. During the two days I got to experience what is like to be a journalist. I got to write an article on the snow storm and it got published on the suns newspaper. To write this article I needed to a lot of research on the snow storm. Although it was hard to write the article, I still found it fun and enjoyable to work with my cousin.
Ardagh group Spain
For my third allocated week of work experience I travelled to Madrid in Spain with my friend Hugo. Whilst in Spain we worked in a large canning factory. We spent lots of time working in the finance department. We learnt about all the different stages different cans go through in their making. We saw lots of massive machines such as the Washer machine to clean the finished cans.
After work we would go into the city to do some exploring. We went to see the King’s Royal palace. I was blown away by the sheer size of it.
I learnt lots whilst working in the factory of how a business is ran day to day. I filed many many invoices as there was a woman who got a large amount of joy from us doing it.
When out exploring the town I had to use Hugos Spanish in order to communicate with the locals as I did not know any Spanish . The whole trip got me a better understanding of what it like to work in a factory and I got to learn a few spanish words.