Forget Me Not
Davis College, Mallow, Co. Cork
The aim of this project was to highlight the issue of missing people in Ireland and to raise money for the organisations that search for missing people by selling their ‘Forget Me Not’ calendar in selected Tesco stores for the 2012 market.
Project Year:2012
Would You Pay for Poison?
Mercy Secondary School, Mounthawk, Tralee, Co. Kerry
The aim of this project was to raise awareness about fluoride in the water supply in Ireland. Attempt to remove it from our water supply, starting with their own town and hopefully go nationwide with their campaign.
Project Year:2012
Do You Want Braille With That?
Cashel Community School, Cashel, Co. Tipperary
The winning team this year for the Challenge, Making Our World More Inclusive and Poverty Free, focused on the issue of visual impairment.
Project Year:2012
A Taste of Tipp
Ursuline Secondary School, Thurles, Co. Tipperary
The aim of the Taste of Tipp Project was to raise awareness about the great local produce produced locality and encourage people to support local businesses.
Project Year:2012
Wholly Affordable Holy Communion
Breifne College, Cavan, Co. Cavan
The winning team this year for the Challenge, Making our Country More Inclusive and Poverty Free, project aim was to highlight the cost of the First Holy Communion and hosted a Communion Fair.
Project Year:2012
Cord Up
Moyne Community School, Moyne, Co. Longford
The winning team this year for the Challenge, Making Our World Safer, designed and produced a device for blind cords, which will protect children from injury.
Project Year:2012
Green Hand (A Green Future for the Youth of Ireland)
St. Anne’s Secondary School, Rosanna Road, Tipperary Town, Co. Tipperary
The aim of the St. Anne’s Secondary School team was to limit the overuse of carbon in the environment and promote the innovation and creation of new sustainable energy stocks for the future.
Project Year:2012
All Teens Aren’t Mean
Navan Youthreach, Navan, Co. Meath
The winning team this year for the Challenge, Making Our World a Better Place for Young People, wanted to change the way young people are stereotyped.
Project Year:2012
A Book’s Life
Avondale Community College, Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow
The goal was to create audio book version of Junior Cert novels and plays, to create a website and to improve literacy levels in their school and local community.
Project Year:2012
Stomp Out Bullying
Coláiste Muire, Ennis, Co Clare
In this YSI project, students found their focus with complying effective and strategic ways to deal with bullying on and off campus. Their main goals included redesigning the stalls and bathrooms at their school, creating a DVD with their demonstrative play “The Daisy Chain” to gain awareness of this social issue.
Project Year:2009
Variety is the Spice of Life
Blackwater Community School, Lismore, Co Waterford
This YSI project aims to raise awareness about the importance of Biodiversity and to design and implement a Biodiversity plan for their school. The group wanted to focus their project around this issue because of the publicity surrounding the publication of the County Waterford Biodiversity Action Plan that was passed last year. Also many member of the group were very passionate about making a positive difference on a local level to preserve Biodiversity.
Project Year:2009
Help is at Hand
Moyne Community School, Moyne Co. Longford
This YSI project Help is at hand is a professional web based local employment service. Through their project they aim to make a positive difference in the live of people within their community. They are committed to inspire and nurture entrepreneurial talent in their community, with the aim to keep the people within their community working.
Project Year:2009
The Butterfly Effect
St. Peter’s College, Dunboyne, Co. Meath and Coláiste Bhride, Carnew, Co. Wicklow
The Butterfly effect project team worked in partnership with Self Help, the Consortium of Diseases of Poverty in Maynooth and also with Irish Aid, to investigate and attempt to deal with the first Millennium Development goal which is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by 2012.
Project Year:2009
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Hope Square
Presentation College, Tuam, Co. Galway
This was a continuation of the project ‘Bloom and Broom for Tuam’ 2009/2010 project, through which students greatly improved the appearance of Bishop Street in the town of Tuam. This year’s team wanted to expand the project further and continue improvements to their town. The team believes there is a strong connection between the physical appearance of a town and its commercial viability.
Project Year:2011
I Need You
Presentation College, Tuam, Co. Galway
The team noticed that many voluntary organizations in the locality were suffering due to a lack of volunteers and simultaneously there were a large number of people unemployed. In order to match these two needs, they set up a Tuam Volunteer Centre.
Project Year:2011
Actions Speak Out Louder than Words
Our Lady’s College, Drogheda, Co. Louth
The team decided to focus on the topic of deafness after a team member shared the experience of her deaf cousin who has an adapted doorbell which alerts them to the presence of visitors by flashing lights. The group realised how little they knew about the difficulties faced by the deaf community and decided that they wanted to learn more.
Project Year:2011
Under the Influence
St. Declan’s Community College, Kilmacthomas, Co. Waterford
This project was a Step-Up project which means that it was a continuation and development of a previous YSI project, the focus of which was on peer pressure on young drivers. In the summer of 2010 there were two multiple fatality car accidents that shocked the country and the YSI team in St. Declan’s Community College wondered how this could be avoided.
Project Year:2011
Missing Persons
Davis College, Mallow, Co. Cork
The aim of this project was to create awareness of missing persons in Ireland as the team felt that this was an issue that often gets overlooked or neglected.
Project Year:2011
Bridging the Digital Divide- Senior I.T.izens
Davis College, Summerhill, Mallow, Co.Cork
This project was a continuation of an IT initiative started by the YSI class of 2008 which offered elderly members of the community education in IT. Not only did this team want to bridge the digital divide but also to bridge a growing generational gap.
Project Year:2009
C.S.I Car Safety Investigators
Mercy Secondary School, Mounthawk, Tralee, Co Kerry
This YSI project focused on car safety and, in particular, around the importance of wearing a seatbelt.
Project Year:2009
Keen Teens
Presentation College, Currylea, Tuam, Co Galway
This YSI project aimed to improve the image of young people within their community by highlighting how teens have made positive contributions to the community as well as encouraging more teens to make a difference.
Project Year:2009
For Sale, For Race
C.B.S Secondary School, The Green, Tralee, Co Kerry
This YSI project’s goal was to bring awareness to road deaths in Ireland as well as to shine new light on the impacts of ‘boy racing’ and the effects that it has on road safety.
Project Year:2009
Internet Safety for Young People
Stella Maris, Tramore, Co. Waterford
This project aimed to raise awareness of the importance of internet safety among teenagers and young people. The team needed to learn about the issue for themselves before they set out to educate others so they completed research through print media and the internet and conducted a survey of their classmates.
Project Year:2010
Caught Green Handed
Mercy Heights Secondary School, Skibbereen, Co. Cork
This project aimed to promote awareness about the importance of healthy and organic produce. They began their project by researching the topic from a number of sources. These included surveys, visiting Gubbeen farm and carrying out interviews with various people
Project Year:2010
Bare Necessities
Good Counsel College, New Ross, Co. Wexford
The goal of this project was to promote awareness about the needs of poor and homeless people in Ireland, especially during current tough economic times. They also wanted to encourage teenagers to become more proactive in the area of homelessness by volunteering and helping to raise awareness of the issue locally.
Project Year:2010
Life’s a Trip… Drugs Destroy!!
Youthreach, Wicklow Town, Co. Wicklow
This project discussed the ongoing problem of drugs and their effects. The group wanted to provide young people at a vulnerable age with all of the information on the side effects and long term consequences of drug use so that they would be able to make better informed choices
Project Year:2010
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It’s TIME to Stop Anti-social Behaviour
O’Fiaich College, Dundalk, Co. Louth
The aim of this project was to highlight the problem of anti social behaviour in Dundalk. Information on the issue was collected from local newspapers and many organisations such as the HSE and Road Safety Authority were contacted.
Project Year:2010
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Under the Influence
St. Declan’s Community College, Kilmacthomas, Co. Waterford
This project investigated the negative influence of peer pressure on young drivers who engage in irresponsible driving. In particular the group hoped that by creating awareness of the issue they would empower their peers to make the correct decisions.
Project Year:2010
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Penny Wise
St. Mary’s Secondary School, Convent of Mercy, Mallow, Co. Cork
This project hoped to heighten awareness among young people of the need to manage their money efficiently and to change their mind set in relation to shopping in second hand shops.
Project Year:2010
Recession Busters
St. Joseph’s Secondary School, Rochfortbridge, Co. Westmeath
Fostering school community and togetherness to beat the recession was the focus of this project. All pupils in the school completed a survey on how they were affected by the recession.
Project Year:2010
Closets are for Clothes, Not People
Coláiste Bride, Clondalkin, Dublin 22
This project focused on the issue of homophobic behaviour and discrimination - where lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender (LGBT) are treated differently.
Project Year:2010
Enable Not Disable
John the Baptist Community School, Hopital, Co. Limerick
This YSI project is focused around helping raise awareness about disabilities in this group’s school and community. Through this project this group hoped to make links between their school and special needs schools in the area.
Project Year:2010
Film Solving Bullying
Eureka Secondary School, Kells, Co. Meath
The aim of this project is to create awareness of the issue of bullying and to communicate vital messages concerning bullying through the medium of film.
Project Year:2010
Plastic Ain’t Fantastic
Coláiste na Toirbhirte, Bandon, Co. Cork
This project aimed to continue the work of last years YSI class by aiming to make Bandon the first ‘plastic free’ town in Ireland. Research was carried out by talking to last year’s YSI students who created a biodegradable ‘Bandon Bag’.
Project Year:2010
Bloom and Broom for Tuam
Presentation Secondary School, Tuam, Co. Galway
This project aimed to restore the town of Tuam by transforming one of the main streets and the town square. The students felt that, by undertaking such a project they could restore a sense of pride in the town adn inspire other residents to assist in improving the appearance of their locality.
Project Year:2010
Emotion Promotion
Mercy Mounthawk, Tralee, Co. Kerry
The issue that this YSI project team wished to address was the difficulty that young people have in expressing their emotions and the negative consequences that this can have on them. Their project aimed to promote positive mental health and hoped to create a positive mental health environment for young teens.
Project Year:2010
Career Vision
Davis College, Mallow, Co. Cork
Students from Davis College, Mallow worked on a project that dealt with the impact of the recession, particularly the impact of the recession on young people but also the powers that young people had to do something about it. They communicated the difficulty we have talking about the human side of unemployment. When we talk about large figures and statistics the human cost tends to get buried but these students were pulling that out, highlighting it and making it really relevant to what was happening in their own town and to what was happening them as young people.
Project Year:2010
The Mill Youth Café
Scoil Mhuire Gan Smal, Blarney, Co. Cork
After studying the results of a Needs Analysis Survey carried out by the University of Cork Geography Department which highlighted a lack of facilities and amenities in this local area which was contributing to anti social behaviour, this YSI project team conducted its own research and established the need and requirement of a youth café. As part of their research they visited two up and running youth café’s, through these visits they were able to get an understanding of how a café runs and what amenities and resources were important for them to open a successful café.
Project Year:2010