Longford student wins trip to Strasbourg

Longford transition year student Nicola Phelan was the overall winner of the Graduate.ie Online Citizenship Programme and she will attend a 3-day educational trip to Strasbourg.

Nicola, representing Mercy Ballymahon, was presented with her prize at a ceremony in the Radisson Hotel, Athlone on Friday, March 28.

Organised and funded by the Midland Regional Drug & Alcohol Task Force (MRDATF), the Graduate.ie programme is an online citizenship & democracy programme for second level students in Ireland.

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It is a government and EU funded programme and has been in operation since 2001.

The MRDATF rolled out this initiative in partnership with twenty-five secondary schools across the counties of Longford, Westmeath, Laois & Offaly with transition year students invited to participate. The programme commenced in September 2024 and lasted for a total of 20 weeks.

During this period a total of 1,926 students registered to take part in the programme and of these an average of 728 students took part in the programme on a weekly basis.

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Each week for 20 weeks of the academic year students’ logged onto www.graduate.ie where they had to answer a number of questions on a range of issues to include drugs and alcohol, health and safety, environmental awareness and climate action, democracy and participation, financial literacy, EU affairs, consumer protection, tourism and regional development.

Students were then directed by hyperlinks to the relevant sponsors’ website where they researched the correct answer and then submitted their answers to Graduate.ie.

The computer randomly selected weekly winners from all the correct entries and there was at least one winner selected each week from across the country.

The overall prize which was sponsored by the MRDATF was for one selected student from Longford who participated fully in the initiative to attend a 3-day educational trip to Strasbourg.

The winning student was Nicola Phelan, Mercy Secondary School, Ballymahon.

Nicola will travel to Strasbourg in November and spend one full day at the European Parliament where she will have the opportunity to take part in a Youth Parliament (Euroscola) with students from other EU member states.

During her stay she will also be visiting other places of educational interest around the city of Strasbourg and surrounding areas.

Antoinette Kinsella, Co-ordinator MRDATF, said, “I am delighted to be here today presenting the winning students with their prizes.

"This is such a worthwhile initiative allowing the participants to develop active citizenship, an understanding of the workings of democracy and intercultural understanding and awareness.

"I would like to acknowledge the Midland Regional Drug & Alcohol Task Force for sponsoring the prizes and all the schools who participated in the Graduate.ie Programme 2024, this was a great opportunity to research and learn more about the dangers associated with drug and alcohol misuse.

“The MRDATF were very happy to support the roll out of the Graduate.ie initiative across the midlands area.

"The uptake and participation received from schools who took part in the initiative was very encouraging and I would like to thank all the students and teachers for their support.

“While taking part in the weekly quiz students had a fantastic opportunity to learn about various organisations and important topics to include; democracy and participation, environment and waste management, climate change, health and wellbeing, drugs & alcohol education/awareness, entrepreneurship, careers, courses, etc.

"It is hoped that this initiative will assist in developing life skills such as preparing for the world of work, teamwork, collaboration and valuable insights into the vocational dimensions of life after school.

“I am sure Nicole will also appreciate having the opportunity to experience how the European Parliament works by partaking in the Euroscola Youth Parliament and having the opportunity to pose a question in the European parliament”.