Emily McCarthy.
A very exciting science journey for an Abbeyfeale student has culminated in her winning a silver medal representing Ireland in the European Science Olympiad in Tartu, Estonia. Emily McCarthy, a student at Coláiste Ide agus Iosef, spent last week competing alongside her five fellow Irish teammates against students from 23 other European countries before emerging with a silver medal last Friday. Emily’s journey began when she was one of 350 students from all over Ireland invited to participate in the Irish European Union Science Olympiad following results achieved in Junior Cert Maths and Science last year. In the first round in late 2015 she got a silver medal in the biology exam and was invited back with 11 others to complete two days of training and a three-hour exam in DCU in January. Following this round, six students were chosen. Emily was the only girl on the team. In March there was further training in DCU and Emily, who is a fifth year student in Coláiste Ide agus Iosef, travelled to Estonia last week to compete against students from all over Europe in the final competition.
This medal win is the culmination of a very good month for the West Limerick Community College as four teams from the school recently also won awards in SciFest which was held in the Insitute of Technology, Tralee.