Ballymahon duo Robin Kearns and Emily Bolger crowned Longford Post Primary Tech Champions

Two Ballymahon Vocational School students were recently crowned champions at the Longford Post Primary Tech Championships 2024 held at Áras an Chontae.

In their outstanding winning project entitled ‘Spacelink’, Robin Kearns and Emily Bolger, used Micro:bit technology to create a toy to assist communication with non-verbal children and children with additional needs.

Their project was commended by the judges who noted that they “greatly surpassed their expectations and showcased a high level of programming expertise and presentation skills.”

The Longford Post Primary Tech Championships 2024 took place on Wednesday, December 11 and the competition set a challenge for fifth-year computer science students to apply their study of the subject in the classroom to relevant real-life uses.

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Over thirty students from three schools, Meán Scoil Mhuire Longford, Ballymahon Vocational School and Templemichael College Longford, showcased sixteen technology projects at the awards.

These awards are co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union through the EU Just Transition Fund Programme 2021-2027. They are organised and hosted by Longford County Council. Ericsson Ireland, Microsoft Ireland and Irish Public Bodies (IPB) also supported the awards and were in attendance. The overall €1,500 prize fund for the awards was sponsored by IPB and is shared among the winner and runner-ups.

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Newtownforbes’ Aislinn Gannon, recent recipient of the Health Technology Women in STEM award, was also in attendance. Aislinn delivered an address to inspire the students and to encourage them to pursue interests in technology and STEM, including further study at third level.

Other awards presented were:

* The Microsoft Ireland Longford Award to Gaspard Frette-Chambaud, Jonathan Tolle and Glenn Amoah (Templemichael College) for their project ‘The Internationals’ they explored how web design technology (html, CSS, and JavaScript) can be used to display information on County Longford landmarks and cultural activities.

* The Innovation Award went to Conrad Alcalde Bruquetas and Gabrielle Corvara (Ballymahon VS) of ‘Bin it Buddy’ (LEDs and touch free technology used to provide hygienic bins for hospitals).

* The Ericsson Ireland Longford Award went to Mia Costello and Ellen Mc Ginnity (Meán Scoil Mhuire) for their project ‘Planning Permission Stats’ (Data analysis on planning applications in County Longford).

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* The Longford Primary Teacher Award was won by Seyi Odukoya and Ava Kenny (Meán Scoil Mhuire) for their project ‘Pricing Protectors’ on scripted data extraction from file input to provide data visualisations to assist consumers.

* Best Presented Project Award winners were Kuba Radkowski and Abdulakeem Busari (Templemichael College) of ‘Some Coding Dudes’ (Business calculator for enterprise).

* The Longford Climate Action Team Award went to Mark McDonald and Tiarnán Connolly (Ballymahon VS) for their project ‘Quiet Time’ (Micro:bit technology used to combat noise pollution in residential and industrial areas).

* Longford Senior Management Team Award winners were Cameron Wiltshire and Daisy Blaine (Ballymahon VS) for their project ‘Patrick the Star’ (Micro:bit technology used to create a sensory toy for children.)

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Longford County Council Cathaoirleach Cllr Mark Casey praised all the students for their efforts and congratulated them on their projects. “Our local students are leading the way and doing exceptionally well in their STEM studies. All have bright futures ahead of them and I look forward to hearing about their future achievements. I thank all involved, including all of the teachers who help their students every day, their excellent projects are a credit to themselves, their teachers and their schools.”

Longford County Council Chief Executive Paddy Mahon said, “This is the second year of this Championships, and the Council is proud to be so involved in something which greatly benefits our secondary school students, giving them hands-on experience in creating technology projects with real-life applications.”

Longford County Council extend special thanks to Ballymahon VS Principal Mick O’Rourke and Computer Science teachers Owen Catterall and Noel Neary; Meán Scoil Mhuire Principal Siobhán Cullen and Computer Science teacher Paddy McLoughlin; and Templemichael College Principal Sorcha Nic Dhonnacha and Computer Science teacher Justin Quinn.

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Thanks is also extended to the team of judges: Microsoft Ireland’s Amanda Jolliffe; Ericsson Ireland’s Paul Hourican, Elizabeth Clinton, Anna Macken and Peter Leacy; Eilish Comerford from Scoil Bhríde Glen; Beatrice Shanley from St Joseph’s National School Longford; Shane Sheridan from Aughnagarron National School; Rebecca Rushe from Ardscoil Phádraig Granard; Padhraic Masterson from Cnoc Mhuire Granard; all Council employees who were also involved.