Fionn Coleman 1/12/18 Fionn Coleman 1/12/18

BT Young Scientist 2018

This year we were delighted to have 3 projects accepted into the BT Young Scientist Competition in Dublin. The students are writing their account to let us know how they are progressing in the competition.

“Our names are Conor, Finn and Pierce. We are currently in second year. We were over the moon to find out just before midterm break that the project we had been working on had been accepted into the BT Young Scientist Competition. Our project is “To Determine at What Age and to What Extent Teenagers Modify Their Diet When They Get Involved in Competitive Sports“. We have been working on it since September and have surveyed over 500 secondary school students.

We set off early on Wednesday morning (very, very early!) with our teacher, Ms Hanlon, and 3 other second year students, project books on our laps, ready to quiz each other as we made our way to Dublin. We arrived at the RDS and took a few moments to take in the sea of projects in front of us. We got ourselves set up and ready for judging. We were lucky to be interviewed by RTÉ online during the morning. This helped us get over our nerves as we waited for our first judge. With a little more help from Ms. Hanlon we were ready to answer any question they had for us. Before we knew it we had the first judging complete and were looking forward to the next two.

Later we went to Funderland to relax after our first day of competition. After flying around on so many rides that we lost count it was time to head home and get ready for the next day when the competition would be open to the public as well as the judges. We can only hope that the rest of the days will be as great as the first.”

Conor, Finn and Pierce. 2nd year

Fionn Coleman 1/12/18 Fionn Coleman 1/12/18

BT Young Scientist 2018 Competition - Day 2

“My name is Fionn and I’m a second year student. The project I have completed for the BT Young Scientist Competition is “ Can Full Fat Milk Help Control Blood Glucose Levels in Type 1 Diabetes?” Day two started for us started with a bang. After walking up to the RDS with my teacher Ms. Hanlon and SNA, Noreen Cashman (thanks you to both for all your help) we saw that we already had the judging times for our second judging. We quickly googled who they were to see if it would help us practice before hand. As I was practicing I was delighted to see that Shay Walsh, the Managing Director of BT Ireland had been told to come and check out my project. It was a little nerve wracking but I held myself together and delivered my project, hoping to impress him. Soon after this the public started to arrive and I was delighted to see that there was so much interest from other diabetics in my project as well as the general public.

When I read the name of my second judge my heart skipped a beat. It was John Monaghan, the first winner of BT Young Scientist in 1965 whom I had met on the first morning of the competition. He said he was really impressed with my project and that “some people can paint a picture, only a few can paint great ones”.

After my judging sessions were complete it was time to explore the RDS and we had a great time playing with lasers in the technology section.

At 5.30 it was time to head back to the hotel to rest up for day 3, Award Ceremony day! We all have our fingers crossed for luck!

Fionn Coleman, 2nd year”