Transition Year 2021 : A Year in Review
By Naoise de Faoite ( TY )
Transition Year has certainly not been the year we were all expecting it to be . Two years ago , if you had told us a global pandemic would have halted the transition year experience , causing the yearly musical to be cancelled , and postponing the annual TY Tour to Europe , nobody would have believed you . Alas , here we are , in our final weeks of school , with half the academic year transferred to online learning .
In times like these , it is easier to focus on the negatives . We could easily focus on the fact we spent half the year over zoom , instead of focusing on the half that we were in school . But today I choose to look at the positives , the brighter side .
During the times we were physically in school , we had a range of experiences . We went on a trip to Causey Farm , where as a class we did things , such as bake bread , visit farm animals , paint walls , play the bodhran , and of course , we cannot forget the highlight of the trip that is jumping in the bog . A terror for some , a joy for many . At the end of the day , people were able to forget about the problems at hand , and just enjoy their time in TY .
Moving on as TYs , we became the first year group to move up to the new school building ... despite it still being half-built . While up here , we were able to have the freedom of having the building to ourselves , as well as the first access to new classrooms and new facilities .
Our time in the first term of school was filled with many activities such as a hair course , cyberbullying webinar , mental health talks , manual handling training , a visit from the national reptile zoo , coaching courses , and selfdefence . Self-defence was a favourite amongst students due to the important conversations about personal safety started by the course instructor Alex Walsh .
Then came Christmas break . When we left school on the 22nd of December , many of us already had a notion that we would not be returning to school in January and unfortunately , these suspicions came true .
The majority of students in Ireland were out of the physical school environment for three and a half months . As you can imagine , as a transition year student , where your year is centred around participating in activities with your class , online learning was not ideal .
TY students found it difficult to stay engaged during these times , some not having the motivation to show up to online class . A lot of this comes back to the impact online learning can have on young people ' s mental health . Being at home on a laptop , instead of in class with your friends can be isolating for many , and can cause people to close in on themselves . Losing almost four months of TY to remote learning was detrimental to many . However , we do thank Ms Byrnes for all the online acitivites orgainised and the variety of events which we got to sample . Our final term back at school has been a highlight for the year group .
Up until now , the current TYs have not been in the same building as the rest of their school since March 2020 , so as you can imagine this was a big and exciting change . The entire school body was now moved up to the longawaited new and improved Maynooth Education Campus , full of new classrooms and facilities . This is an exciting time for our school .
For the past few weeks , TY students have been working and rehearsing for their upcoming Musical Lip Sync Battle . Each class has been given a different musical and will be going headto-head for the grand prize . Musicals include : Hairspray , Legally Blonde , Grease , The Greatest Showman , All Shook Up , High School Musical and Mamma Mia . The event is being led by MCC PE Dept .
As the year comes to a close , we can look to the upcoming academic year ahead , with hopes that vaccines will bring a sense of normality to the classrooms come September . Our TY experience may have been different to the years previous , but I believe we can all say wholeheartedly that it will be a year we will not forget .