Twelve year old Muireann wins Overall Best Project Award at SciFest 2010

Muireann Keating a twelve year old first year student in Presentation Secondary School, Tralee was selected as the Overall Best Project Award Winner at SciFest 2010 on Wednesday, May 12th, 2010 at the Institute of Technology, Tralee. Her project entitled ‘Is school deafening us?’ received the top prize of a presentation trophy marking her achievement in the competition and a voucher. Muireann also won two other awards including the Discover Sensors Award Winner and the Best Junior Physical Science Award.

Speaking on her tremendous success at SciFest 2010 Muireann stated “I am really happy and I wasn’t even expecting to win one prize. It shows that hard work really does pay off. I had fun doing my project.” Her teacher Clementine O’Keeffe commented “Muireann worked very hard on her project, she is a born researcher and Presentation Secondary School, Tralee are extremely proud of her. We hope she will take the project further and consider entering the BT Young Scientist competition next year.”

The Runner Up Award was won by John Prendergast, Brian Daly & Fiona Reidy, Mercy Mounthawk, Tralee. The Best School Award was won by Intermediate School Killorglin. The Highly Commended Discover Sensors Award was won by Shane Hayes & Michael Dillane CBS, The Green, Tralee. The Best Communicator Award was won by Patrick Rohan, Anna Fiddler & Karina Fitzgerald Castlegregory Secondary School. Other awards presented on the day included the Best Life Science Awards, Best Physical Science Awards and the Best Technology Awards.

Dr. Michael Hall, Acting Head of Department, Health & Leisure Studies/Medical Commencement Programmes, Institute of Technology Tralee stated “I was very pleased with this year's SciFest competition. The entrants, tomorrow’s scientists, presented a great selection of topics, from muscle strength to wind turbines, cockroaches to refrigeration. The entrants ranged from first to fifth year but it was great to see so many first years involved this year. I hope they develop their ideas and return to SciFest to present their work in the years to come.”

Over 250 secondary students, teachers and guests from across the county enjoyed the one-day festival of science sponsored by Dairymaster. The audience were captivated by the engaging and thought provoking key note address by Dr Gary McDarby, PhD CEng entitled 'Compassion, Innovation and Adversity - How Human Hardship can Inspire Technological Ingenuity'. Guests visited twenty two projects exhibiting at SciFest 2010 and also attended a selection of demonstrations including: Super Furry Animals; Energy Extravaganza; Lego Robotics demo, Physics, Biology, Fitness & Electronics demonstrations.

Fergus O'Meara, International Sales Manager of Dairymaster, commented “Dairymaster are proud to be associated with SciFest 2010 at the IT, Tralee. The calibre of the projects was fantastic and I was delighted to see the amount of effort and hard work the students put into it.” He added “Encouraging innovation and promoting an investigative approach to business will give us a new generation of entrepreneurs in the area. I would recommend all students to get involved in SciFest next year.”

SciFest is a national festival of science organised regionally in collaboration with the Institutes of Technology and is open to all second level students. SciFest aims to encourage a love of science through an investigative approach to learning and to provide an opportunity for students to display their scientific discoveries. Partners of SciFest 2010 include Intel; Discover Science & Engineering; BT; Dairymaster and Abbott Ireland. Dairymaster is a Platinum Sponsor of Scifest 2010 at the Institute of Technology, Tralee.

SciFest 2010 Winners