May Review

There were no massive events in May, but there have been a few nice things scattered through it. School fair day, one chess tournament, two awards ceremonies, a spot on the radio and a meeting.

I already covered the first of May in my April review, but to recap it was the final day of Positive Mental Health Week in my school so we had a fair day outside, with ice cream and chess and games. It was fabulous. 

Posting this photo again because I really love it.

I then reflected on what I'd learned at Evolve Biomed, finished up my world series with an interview with a French girl and expressed my support for the Marriage referendum. I talked about the benefits and disadvantages of sharing my life on the internet, and then published a post covering the Head Girl campaigns in my school.

It came as a big surprise to me when that post caused controversy. I was pulled out by my Year Head and Vice-Principal to talk, because apparently some people had been offended by the honest portrayal. I've adjusted the post and written more at the bottom, but that whole thing was a strange experience. 

I thought up my dreams in life and gave advice on how to succeed at science fairs. 

Then, finally, some things started happening in real life. 

On Thursday the 14th, I had my first external chess tournament against a local school. I was Board 7, i.e. the seventh best player on the school team, but it was still cool and I really enjoyed winning my first and only tournament game so far. The same day, we voted for the Head Girl. I voted Sarah #1, and she won the following day at Prizegiving!

Friday the 15th was always going to be a great day because there were two awards ceremonies on the same day: school Prizegiving and an awards ceremony for Drogheda Young Innovators.

I (and my sister) did very well in Prizegiving, coming out with, well, a lot.

Immediately after that, the Young Scientist students left for the Mill for the Drogheda Young Innovators ceremony. All of us won our category, and I won the overall prize! 




Then on Wednesday the 20th, I was invited to speak on local radio about winning Drogheda Young Innovators alongside Breanndán, who helps run the competition. 

I then did a blog post about all my work experience and what I've learned from it. I've had three consecutive weekends where I didn't leave the house, so there's not too much else to add, apart from the meeting. Lately, I've been thinking about Sentinus an awful lot. It's happening in less than a month.  

My school exams went from the 25th to the 28th (the English exam on Friday was cancelled because a teacher died). On Monday the 25th, after my History exam, my teacher and I went to a meeting in St. James' hospital about continuing my research. That was great. I then had Irish and French exams (both okay), Chemistry exam (great), Physics exam (great) and Maths exam (not so great). Then on Friday the 29th, I took part in the senior students' guard of honour in the funeral procession. On Saturday 30th, I had a lovely day in town with Jerry. 

I blogged some exam tips, reviewed Fifth Year, and talked about the pros and cons of long summer holidays, the pros and cons of blogging daily, and my experience of the iPad on its one-month anniversary. I also got some interviews lined up with the wonderful Sinéad Burke of minniemelange.com and the Digital Youth Council, so I'll be working on writing those interviews soon.

It's the 30th as I write this and I don't see myself doing too much out and about tomorrow, hopefully getting some work done on my research, on the interviews and reading. 

Pretty good month. Not too eventful, so I guess it was a nice break. Would like some excitement in June, though - some things that'll be happening then include my trip to Intellectual Ventures HQ and Sentinus Young Innovators. 

Town with Jerry

Today was great, and I'm probably the most relaxed I've been this year since January - despite not getting anything done. This was, I think, the first Saturday in weeks I left the house and had a social life, as my friend Jerry came down to see me.

Also, I made an effort with my clothes and appearance for once, though I still didn't wear any makeup. Have a look:

Working that style blogger look. Dress from my sister, jacket from the wardrobe, flower band from Claire's, tights probably from Penneys. 

I wasn't sure exactly where I'd be meeting Jerry, so I was reading peacefully in Waterstones when my brother said they'd seen Jerry. So I turned around and Jerry was sitting behind me. He sneaks up on me all the time, it's hilarious. I do get lost in books. 

We didn't really have a plan in mind (y'know, teenage loitering), so we went to some charity shops (Jerry bought me a copy of The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson, which I've heard good things about) and to Dealz to stock up on junk. 

Bit more wandering, then we went to Boomerang (the youth café). I got hot chocolate and we both got chips. He lamented my awful ketchup technique. We then spent ages having a really interesting conversation about North Korea and nukes and neutrality and General Mao and Communism and America's military and assassinations and the Chinese education system and more. I knew very very little about all this, so I asked all the naive questions and learned a lot. I absolutely love it when people have skills or understand things I don't and are willing to teach me, it dramatically increases my respect for them and it's just so much fun.

We then walked to the Laurence Centre (this meant we had visited all three of my town's big ionad siopadóireachta) and went to the SVP where I'd gotten a really good deal on like twelve books before (twelve books for a fiver!). I bought Delirium by Lauren Oliver there for €1. I've been waiting to buy it for so long, although now it's just adding to my massive To-Be-Read (TBR) list. I'm currently reading The Most Human Human by Brian Christian, which is about AI. 

We then found a bench and I started teaching Jerry ukulele. He picked up the chords really fast and is doing fine with strumming, although he stresses too much about it. If you're reading this, Jerry, relax. You're doing really well. Also, learn songs. 

The last thing we did was go up to the roof of Scotch Hall. I don't know if you're meant to do that, but the door wasn't really locked so we just went up and walked around for a while.

Jerry took this when I wasn't looking. No idea what my bag is doing.

I saw Jerry off and came home, and have just done some aikido with Dad, had garlic bread and watched part of a movie on Netflix with my brothers. 

Quite mundane, I suppose, but it's been a really nice day. 

Review: Black Hole Focus by Isaiah Hankel

Publisher: Capstone (Wiley)
Publication Date: May 5th 2014
Genre: Self-Help
Source: Free at Conference
Rating: 5 stars

Blurb: 

Create your purpose. Change your life.

Don't get stuck on a path you have no passion for. Don't waste your intelligence on something that doesn't excite or motivate you. Let Isaiah Hankel help you define a focus so powerful that everything in your life will be pulled towards it.

Be focused. Be fulfilled. Be successful.

It's time to take control and think about your strategy for life. Whatever experience or qualifications you have right now, you can start living purposefully today.

Doctor and Fortune 500 consultant Isaiah Hankel is an internationally recognized expert in the biotecholnology industry and specializes in helping people transition out of unfulfilling jobs onto cutting-edge career tracks. 

In Black Hole Focus, Isaiah shows you how to hone your purpose so that everything you do stays true to that ultimate focus. You will discover why you need a purpose, how to find it and then crucially how to fulfill that purpose and get all that you deserve in life.

Escape the things you hate in life - and get everything you've ever wanted.


2.5 seems a mean rating, but I'm trying to stop inflating my ratings. 

So, this is - I think - the first self-help book I've ever read. In my defence, it was free, and I don't waste free things if I can help it. 



The author pitches well to his audience's egos - 99% of the people at this conference had PhDs, so he sucks up to them saying "Personal Development for Smart People". If you want people to buy things, make it about them.

So, what did I think of the book? It started off well, and I liked the story about how he got to this place. It went downhill about a third of the way through, though, and got very unoriginal. I haven't even read other self-help books, and I've still heard a lot of this stuff before. Isaiah's style is pretty motivational, but seeing as I could replicate that myself I wasn't too impressed. The case studies annoyed me most of the time - they seemed very artificial.

All that said, I did love some parts. Here's what I highlighted.

"Once your amygdala finds negative information, it immediately transfers this information into your long-term memory ... Positive experiences have to be held in awareness for more than twelve seconds in order for your brain to transfer them from your short-term to long-term memory banks. This is why most people instantly forget praises, but can remember a single criticism for years."

I liked this, because it was an interesting explanation and rang true. It saddens me that I can't remember compliments. Another thing I've noticed is that I never ever notice or remember people applauding when I leave stages, even though I'm sure they're doing it. My brain, high on adrenaline, just blocks it out.

Another part I liked was when he talked about how he would always run faster in athletics when his coach shouted "Last one, give everything." This isn't really a surprise - of course you're going to give more when you know how many are left. But it was presented well in the book, so kudos for that. He extrapolated from this to say "Defining the path in front of you will give you the energy you need to complete it."

He then had a chapter saying the end is where we start from. I loved the story about Jim Carrey, then broke and jobless, writing himself a check for $10 million, dated for eight years into the future. Seven years later, he discovered his pay for the movie Dumb & Dumber was $10 million.

Now, stories like these tend to set alarms ringing in my head by how perfectly coincidental they are. But it was still nice to read. 

There was also some good writing advice: "the best way to write a script is to construct a plot by writing backwards from the climax, using reverse cause and effect."

Something that hit me fairly hard was about the pointlessness of to-do lists and constantly chasing the next achievement - that's, according to the book, "tactician" behaviour, when you should be going for "strategist". 

There was also this quote from Tim Ferriss: "It's lonely at the top. Ninety-nine percent of people in this world are convinced they are incapable of achieving great things, so they aim for the mediocre. The level of competition is thus fiercest for "realistic" goals, paradoxically making them the most time- and energy-consuming."

The author is not a fan of uni labs, saying "all the post-docs and assistant professors I knew lived in 10-foot by 10-foot prison cells called labs, repeating experiments and writing grant proposals that failed to get funded 93% of the time."

This is a bit discouraging, Isaiah. Screw you. Ah well, I know I'm going to have to change academia up a bit anyway. 

He recommended writing down the position you want, and said that what you fear writing the most is often what you want the most. 

I loved this bit: "The Pygmalion effect is a phenomenon where the greater the expectation placed on a person, the better he or she performs." I've definitely noticed this in my own life, and it's exactly why I put so much pressure on myself - because I know I can do it. I usually only fail to do things because I don't set proper goals, and that is from me, not some self-help book. 

So - was reading the book worthwhile? I guess so. It's always good to read, and non-fiction broadens the mind. There were certainly some interesting points - I just got sick of him going on about things that only apply to adults.

When oh when will a book have me as its target audience?

My Favourite Twitters

I originally thought making a list of my favourite Twitter accounts would be easier, but it has not been. Not only is linking things tedious as hell, it's hard to narrow down a list. So I've described my top favourites and then added a shortlist down the bottom. Also, I'm not linking - it's pretty easy to type these names into the Twitter search box. If you really want links, comment below.

These aren't in any particular order, but they're all good.

@WhispersNewsLTD
The Twitter account of a satire newspaper, the Irish equivalent to the Onion. Both hilarious and free.

@GOPTeens
Absolute gold. Was once skyping some friends, and we genuinely laughed for hours while going through these Tweets. I have no idea whether they're satirical, but when they have Tweets like:

#Teens: Can #Jesus see you if you #Tweet in #Church?

It's amazing. They have no idea how hashtags work and are spectacularly, hilariously Republican. I gave you a recent Tweet just there - there are some amazing ones in the archives. Honestly, gallons of fun for the whole family, if the family can take a joke.

@broodingYAhero
Makes fun of YA love interest clichés. They still haven't run out of material, impressively.


@PotterMoosh
Not entirely sure how I came across this girl (something Nerdfighter, I think) - but she's delightfully nerdy and quirky, it's cool. 

@vornietom
Don't know this girl, but her Twitter is insightful and funny. A definite follow.

@CiaraFudgyJudgy
Ciara lives in Ireland and has a long list of accomplishments that I'm not going to go through because nah (mostly along with Emer and Sophie), but she's cool and nice to talk to, plus her Twitter is entertaining.

@emerhickk
Similar to Ciara above, though I haven't talked to Emer much. Both are loudly for gay rights and have cool tech tweets, so yeah. I empathize with her frustration with the sraithpictiúrí which reminds me I have my 5th Year Irish oral on Monday and I have no sraithpictiuri with me. I'm so screwed.

@oneillo
This is the account of Louise O' Neill, an Irish writer who wrote a book I absolutely adore, Only Ever Yours. She's very entertaining and interesting on Twitter, too. Other authors like Maureen Johnson and Laini Taylor deserve a mention for their Twitters also. 

@NoToFeminism
This account, also called "Women Against Feminism", is hard to describe. So here are some examples. 

Wonderful.

Here are some random humour accounts - all are funny, but strange, so it depends on the type of person you are. Quite Tumblr.

@BuckyIsotope
@MikeBianchi
@shutupmikeginn
@NicestHippo
@DanMentos
@sad_tree
@internetluke



@mayor_nyc
A girl in my school was the mayor of NYC for the school play, so now she has a full-fledged Twitter about it. It's coming in handy now that she's running for school Head Girl.



@BTYSTE
@cienna_q
@BananaAnna19
@ellaisnotemo
@CNiCharragain 

Now, there are almost certainly more, especially writers and people in tech, but that's a pretty good taste. It's 57 minutes past midnight, so that's me done. 

Interview with a French Girl

Hello! This is the last installment of World Week, which was sadly separated from all its counterparts by other events in my life. Anyway, here's an interview with Anne-Claire, a student from France who studied in my school for a few months. Her wording has been transcribed exactly for accuracy. Her English is very good for someone who's only been learning it a few years. She also has beautifully extravagant writing, which refuses to upload.






What countries have you lived in?

I have always lived in France, but some years ago, me and my family spent one week in Roma, Italy.

What do you like about France?

About France I like so much things! I love the countryland and all the different landscapes. I like the traditions, the accents, the old villages, the food... I love the French culture with all the writers, painters, architects ... and of course I'm fond of the history.

What do you dislike about France?

I dislike the way French people are forgetting their roots. The countryland is deserted while in cities people are not proud anymore of being French. There is more criminality and less identity. People also are stressed and always hurry, they don't have time to care about each other.

What are the similarities and differences between Ireland and France?

Northern France looks quite the same than Ireland. The general Irish people are much more welcoming. They take themselves far less seriously than the French do: they can laugh and joke at a lot of things. The French also have a lot of jokes, but often, it's about others! It seems to me that artistic skills are valued in Ireland, but not in France.

Why did you come to Ireland?

I came to Ireland to improve my English and have a little break. I wanted to travel in Ireland before, but I'd never have wonder to stay here for a year! I really like this country.

If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

I don't know. I think I would travel from one to another. I would like to live some years in Ireland, but also in Canada. But I will always go back in France.

What was your first impression of Ireland?

My first impression when I got out of the plane was "How cold!". The second one was that people were talking so fast I couldn't understand a single word and I was a little paniqued ... But I was really excited and I couldn't still believe I was to spend a year there.

Will you miss Ireland?

Of course I will miss Ireland! One year is just enough to feel attached to a country but still have so much things to do and learn that you have to go back some days again.

How has studying in Ireland affected you?

After my studying here, I decided to do an English course in college to keep my English good and be able to live abroad. I want to teach later: English and French as foreign languages, and history.

Thanks! Anne-Claire is now back in France, and we wish her all the best. 

18 Things I Learned at Evolve Biomed 2015

Hello! So, earlier this week I attended and presented my research at the inaugural Evolve Biomed event, a conference to "accelerate biomedical innovation". In my blog posts during the event, I was too tired/busy to do more than just list the events without commentary, so here's all that delicious commentary. 

Warning: This blog post focuses on how the conference relates to me and my experiences, so it's a personal account. If any of the organisers want a more objective view of the quality of the event:

(a) It was very good
(b) I learned a lot
(c) It was a great opportunity to mix with people in the industry
(d) Impressive job.

1. Emphasis on Industry

For a gathering of academics, there wasn't much focus on academia. From the moment I arrived I heard people talking about PhD students preparing for their "transfer" (boy does that sound dystopian - an academic dystopia?), and while that could've been into post-doc, the majority of the talks were on industry and entrepreneurship. How to start a spin-out company. Venture capital. Pharma companies and the drug pipeline. 

I'm not saying this was a bad thing, and I did appreciate all the new information. But being young and naive and idealistic and wanting a PhD, it was discouraging to see all these people trying to get out of academia as fast as possible. I mean, even while I was in CRANN, they'd talk about low academic wages, but they still liked academia. It was weird.

2. People believe what they want to believe.

When I went to the Gaeltacht (aged 13), a guy there immediately told me I looked like I was seven. That was rude but not uncommon; people often tell me I look younger than I actually am (I'm 16). But here, people read my poster and kept asking where I'm doing my PhD. I had to keep saying "I'm still in secondary school, but..." I think a lot of people there were convinced I'd won a prize at Young Scientist that let me present at the conference, but no such prize exists. It was just through AJ. 

Anyway, I found it interesting how much people will believe what they want to, or what makes sense in the situation while ignoring evidence from their eyes. I really don't look like I'm in my 20s, and yet almost everyone assumed I was. 

Nice change. 



3. Incremental Progress

I saw at least three posters on the same (or at least very similar) topic - radioisotopes as tracers. I know this is a conference on one (broad) field, and I should probably stop comparing everything to Young Scientist, but you wouldn't see that in YS, except maybe in the Social & Behavioural section.

The sort of projects that do well in YS tend to be really individual and ground-breaking. I mean, that's similar in the real scientific world, but the YS is unforgiving to projects with incremental improvements on existing methods, ones that might merit a paper in reality. Things have to be media-ready, new and exciting. 

It left me thinking of how important the public can be, and how we really need more opportunities for non-university-educated people to do real research. I haven't worked out the logistics, but something like CoderDojo for science could be really beneficial. 

4. What I did wrong with my poster...

As this was my first conference, I had my poster made quite thick so it would last. That backfired when it fell down and broke under its own weight. 



I discovered that posters for conferences are generally thin but laminated. 

5. ....And what I did right.

Mine was the only pink poster there. Everyone else's were blue, gray, white and black. All muted, boring, business tones. The benefit of being inexperienced is an ability to naturally think outside the box (because you don't know the box is there). I could also get away with seeming unprofessional because, well, I'm not a professional. 



6. Books in the RDS

When I first went into the concert hall (location of most talks), I thought it was a gorgeous room. I was impressed by all the books there, but when I went for a close-up look I was astonished to see multiple heavy books on each row, all of the same volume. I mean, I don't think they got the point of volume, but here's a picture showing the April, February, March and January 1964 editions of "Comptes Rendus De L'Aead Des Sciences", all part of Volume 258. That makes me wonder, just how many of these are there? I mean, obviously they're something to do with science, but are they just collections of all scientific articles published in a certain place in that time, or something else? 

They're in a different language (French?), but if I'm in the RDS again it might be worthwhile to have a look through them. 



7. Mysterious vandal with bad grammar

Even in a place as posh as the RDS, I found this. No idea what it means, but the contrast was funny. 

8. Value of Young Scientist

I was talking to the guy whose poster was beside mine, and asked him where he'd presented his work before. He said this was his first conference or event like that, and I was very surprised. He was the second-youngest person there, a Masters student, but still. 

Across my two projects, I've done at least five exhibitions, most of those with judges. I'm still not great at condensing my work for the layman, but I do have plenty of experience with it, and it really surprises me that there are academics who haven't at all.

I guess that's the value of things like Young Scientist and Sentinus Young Innovators (and, to an extent, Drogheda Young Innovators). You learn really important speaking skills, and learn how to pitch your work taking your audience into account (e.g. if it's a judge in your area or in another field, in which case you need to be respectful but still explain most things), or if it's a member of the public or a child, all people who'll need a different level of explanation). You also learn what's relevant and what isn't - if you're talking to ten-year-olds, it's just going to take too long to explain everything, so you need to be okay with oversimplifying the work there. 

9. Specialization

I was alarmed by the amount of specialization at the conference. I mean, it was on one area (biomedical science) and yet most people didn't understand my research and I didn't understand theirs (although we could definitely catch the gist of it with some effort)

I've been told before how incredibly specialized you are by the time you get to a PhD, and I always took that to mean your work. But it actually seemed like the people themselves were really specialized. At Young Scientist, exhibitors generally have a much broader view on things. There are benefits and drawbacks to this one, but I'm not a big fan of specialization. It feels like closing yourself off too much.

10. Livetweeting

I Tweeted so much during that conference, and so did everyone else. I think the organisers did a good job with encouraging social media engagement - I didn't think people would co-operate, but they really enthusiastically did. I mean, a big part of it was showing off and compulsory outreach attempts from labs, but hey: mutually beneficial. @EvolveBiomed kept a really good eye on the Tweets and stayed on top of Retweeting them, instantly rewarding everyone who engaged online with the conference. 

11. Work experience repetition

Some of the talks at this conference really made me realise how valuable my work experience has been. Last November, I did a week of work experience with AMBER, during which we went to the Tissue Engineering labs in RCSI and learned about the triad used in tissue engineering (we also got to touch the 3D-printed moulds and plenty more besides, as well as visits to other places like the AML - Advanced Microscopy Laboratory and graphene labs in CRANN). Then there was a talk from someone in Tissue Engineering at AMBER that covered the exact same topics (with some added material they must not have deemed fit for TYs). So it was really cool to see that we were learning actual cutting-edge things on work experience, rather than the old stuff that makes it into textbooks.



12. The Value of Asking 

This links in with "Value of Young Scientist", point #8), but I want to state it clearly because it's really important. That same Masters student couldn't believe I (and a few others) had been allowed to visit and touch the cyclotron under Blackrock Clinic, and I told him I just asked.

Now, that was part of a work experience programme (UCD Physics Week, 2nd to 6th December 2013), where all these visits had been scheduled in. So someone at UCD asked the people at Blackrock Clinic to let us in under supervision, and they said yes - because people generally do. I asked to be let on the programme. Why would people say no? I believe people are generally helpful, and as long as you make it easy enough for them, they'll do it.

Use this wisely. 

(That reminds me: thanks a million to the many people who helped me out throughout the two days, especially in giving me directions and carrying my poster.)

13. Pandering

During all my other work experiences/programmes/exhibitions, the talks would revolve around young people and how we're the future, innovators, etc. The fact that teenagers were mentioned only once at this conference (to my knowledge), and it was in a very separate way "Teenagers share their lives online" rather than "You share your lives online", proved just how much pandering they're doing at other, teenager-centric venues.

Which is to be expected. The speakers are just tailoring their points for their audiences. 

14. Unexpected Scarcity of Like-Minded People

This could just be a lesson in the diversity of people. But I admit, I thought I'd find more like-minded people. Going back to the guy beside me (and others who echoed his opinion), they said they never would've been doing this sort of thing when they were sixteen. Now, I'm not showing off. It's just a personality type, I guess, people who do projects like this, and it's definitely helped by Young Scientist and support from my school. But people who didn't do sciencey things in school and just went the normal route (Bachelors, Masters, PhD) seem to have a different mindset. 

I found a lot more like-minded people in CTYI. The fact that they're both teenage and (usually) ambitious helps.

Don't get me wrong, though: I'm still really impressed by a lot of the people there, including the speakers and organisers. 

15. Money

At least two of the talks were solely about how much money is available to researchers in the form of various prizes and grants (these were from Enterprise Ireland and SFI). Apparently people just need to know about them. 

So go forth and sign up for SFI e-alerts.

16. Family

I probably shouldn't have been so surprised by this, but I did find it really strange to sit at tables and hear professors and PhD students talk about their kids. I never really thought of them as people who have family, so I guess that humanised them for me in a way. 

17. Translational Research 

The conference really pushed this one, as mentioned in #1 about the emphasis on industry. It's all about getting from basic to applied research, and showing there are supports and mechanisms available to help you get there. Translational Research is where it's at. 

18. Communication

This was the real takeaway from Evolve Biomed 2015, I think. Speakers kept repeating the theme that scientists need to learn to communicate with healthcare professionals, people in industry and the public to effectively disseminate their discoveries, something we learned in BT Business Bootcamp from that Newstalk presenter.

Linking back to point #8 (again), communication and practice with presenting your work really is, in my opinion, key.

Again, good job to all the organisers and thanks to AJ for inviting me. 

April Review

I actually totally forgot to do an April Review until I saw Aimee's, and was in the process of writing a reflection on Evolve Biomed (the conference). But here you go.

It's been a pretty nice month.

I got internet back after five weeks without it at the start of this month, which was a relief. During my time without internet, I'd fallen in love with my Nokia phone. I discovered studyblrs and Dad moved into a new house. 

My sister's birthday was on the 20th, and that same day I sang a Beyoncé song at Mass and World Week began on the blog with "Interview with a Canadian". In the following days, I interviewed people from Africa, Australia, America and Hong Kong. I really enjoyed that series; it was fun doing a theme I'd invented, and it felt like real journalism going out and interviewing these people (virtually). Thanks to everyone who shared their stories. World "Week" actually has one more installment coming, from a French girl. So look forward to that in the coming days. I also played a lot of chess in school in April. 

On the 24th, I went up to the Department of Education in Dublin for an Awards Ceremony, after winning the 15-17 Category nationally for a newspaper writing about alcohol competition. I got an iPad, so that was nice. 

The Awards Ceremony was the start of a very busy week that just ended yesterday. The day after was my brother's Communion.




On the 29th and 30th of April, I attended and presented my work at Evolve Biomed, a conference accelerating biomedical innovation. Exhausting but definitely an experience. Reflection on that coming tomorrow.






The week of 27th April to 1st May was Positive Mental Health Week in school, which was really great. The best day was Friday (Fair Day), which wasn't technically April but here are some photos anyway.

Positive Mental Health Week 2015

So, my school had its second annual Positive Mental Health Week this week, and it was awesome. Sadly, I missed two days of it because of the conference (Evolve Biomed), but here's what went down. 

Every morning, students were handed sweets on the way into school, and pens, tea and cakes were distributed during some classes (especially Maths). Each year also had various talks, which meant that I missed my Sciences double on Monday and Tuesday for Mental Health talks (not my favourite thing - I probably would've preferred Physics and Chemistry). Students also told really stupid jokes over the intercom, which I enjoyed. Stuff like:

Oxygen and Potassium went on a date together. It went OK. 

That joke has been on a poster in my school for ages now, but still. I love the effort. 

I missed Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday, there was a Teacher vs. Teacher Lip Sync battle that the teachers took really seriously and was all top secret. Apparently it was amazing. My year voted for Head Girl nominees on Thursday. I'm glad Sarah Kieran got nominated, I plan to vote for her. 

Instead of just continuously painting white over the graffiti on the bathroom doors, art students painted really nice designs on them, like these:

On Friday, the school went all out. All it said on the schedule was "Fair Day for the whole school", and we know there'd be an ice-cream van selling cones for 70c, but that was about it. 

So that was today, and it was awesome.

In English and Maths, we were given tea and biscuits and just chatted, it was very relaxing. I was talking about how bad my eyes are and Grace gave me (not) the best compliment ever: "Elle, if I had no eyes, I'd take your eyes." Chemistry was our only actual class, where we made ethyne. Here's a video.

During Chemistry, we were burning our samples of ethyne and Laura (holding test tubes) said "I can't wait to set fire to all my little babies", so that was funny. 

After lunch, it was time for the Fair. I'd agreed to help out with the Chess Department and set up giant human-sized chess pieces on the chessboard courtyard. Unfortunately, Alex, Niamh, Safia and I (plus some helpers) went on a wild goose chase around the school and did not get the chess pieces. 

It was okay though. People still came over to the chess tables even though it was only small chess. We set up sprint chess, where you have to make a move, then sprint over to the clock and then back to make their next move. Now, at first I was reluctant because sprint chess involves two things I dislike: chess clocks and exercise (you should see how much I panic when the chess clocks are brought out. Not my thing). 

I taught some people how to play chess, and watched my little sister beat various teachers. Very proud. Also, her friend Niamh beat the school vice-principal. Go chess club!

I got ice-creams for myself, Moya and Niamh. I feel bad because I skipped the whole queue which I never do, but in fairness I thought it was the senior queue (you're allowed skip Juniors when they're in your queue) and had a job to do for chess. Shut down a cheeky first year. 

It was really sunny, and we had a nice time. 

A teacher did tai chi with some students, and though I won't post pictures for fear of expulsion, it was entertaining. 

Towards the end, I discovered the Karaoke Caravan and bounced around in there for a bit (excluded between a group of TYs and 6th years so that was a dampener, but oh well). 

Carnival games: 

I then went in and Laura started facepainting me, but didn't get to finish.

Positive Mental Health Week is a really great initiative and has only improved since last year, so congrats to Mr. Keenan and all the organisers. Dorkiness aside, I love my school.