Holly & Haylie Hit Husbandry High

Agri Ware’s Aimee Gray with GCC’s Haylie Foley and Holly Cheevers

atest press release from Greystones Community College, issued on Thursday, February 15th 2024…

Two Transition Year students from Greystones Community College received top marks for their innovative entry in the Irish Environmental Innovation Awards for 2024.

The national competition, in association with Agri Aware and BiOrbic, crowned the two Wicklow students as National Environmental Innovator runners up at the Board Bia Global Hub in Dublin last week.

4th year students at Greystones Community College Haylie Foley and Holly Cheevers and their teacher Ms Micaela Buckley claimed the overall third place nationally in the prestigious competition. More than 9,500 Transition Year students from 185 schools across the country took part in the programme nationwide. Eight top group finalists from around the country were chosen to attend the national final event and showcase their idea to a number of leading agri-food stakeholders, giving them the opportunity to meet like-minded peers and to demonstrate their learning over the course of the programme.

The Greystones students came up with a groundbreaking way to tackle the issue of food waste by developing their own community cookhouse. Their idea is to provide access to a community kitchen for those struggling financially or those that may be experiencing homelessness. The community cookhouse would be fully stocked and open to all members of the public. Foods would be supplied from supermarket waste and leftover household foods that are still safe to eat. The students identified a problem and use creativity, initiative and their knowledge of sustainability and the environment to develop the community cookhouse prototype.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for Land Use and Biodiversity, Pippa Hackett commented “I am always fascinated to get a sense of what our students identify as the biggest challenges facing the agricultural sector, as well as their ideas about the potential solutions. I was particularly taken by the fact that 9,500 pupils participated in this initiative. These are the farmers, researchers, and policy makers of the next generation, so it is hugely encouraging to see such a level of interest among our students in addressing food waste, water pollution, biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions”.

Principal of Greystones Community College Mr. Ruairi Farrell was particularly proud of his student’s success “For our students and our school to be on such a prestigious stage and to claim such an award is a remarkable achievement. Our students excel in all areas of extra-curricular activities but under the leadership of Environmental Action Teacher Ms. Micaela Buckley, the students at Greystones Community College have achieved magnificent things, from working locally with the Tidy Towns and environmental groups through to different school wide environmental initiatives. We are very proud of Holly and Haylie for this fantastic success”.

Teacher Micaela Buckley with Holly Cheevers and Haylie Foley

Agri Aware Director Marcus O’Halloran said of the event: “It was an incredible day at the Bord Bia Global Hub to witness eight fantastic projects from schools right across the country. The judges were very impressed with the calibre of the work students presented on the dayand it made for a very difficult decision who to crown the winners of the programme. However, students from Greystones Community College demonstrated a need for a solution to a challenge that many of us thought we had conquered, but in reality that isn’t the case”

Director of BiOrbic, Kevin O’Connor added: “It is great to see such a diversity of fantastic ideas from young environmental innovators to address challenges as diverse as silage run-off, food use efficiency to benefit the vulnerable in society and reducing confusion about waste management.”

The topics covered in the finalists’ projects ranged from implementing proper waste disposal systems and promoting biodiversity in their schools, reusing plastic bale wrap to be recycled into insulating materials, and coming up with alternatives to reduce the tonnes of waste generated every year from the confectionery industry.

Agri Aware Director Marcus O’Halloran concluded “It was brilliant once again to see so many students participate in the programme this year. Greystones Community College in Wicklow, St Tiernan’s College in Mayo and Scoil Mhuire in Meath were very worthy finalists and a big congratulations to them and their teachers and schools on their success.

You can find out more about the Irish Environmental Innovation Awards here, and about Greystones Community College here.