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UCD TY TRIP

On Friday 31st March 2017, the transition year students went to
University College Dublin. When we first arrived, we got a talk about
what courses are available in UCD and what we might want to do in
the future. Present UCD students gave us an outline on their different
courses and what is involved in them. This was interesting as we
learned what the courses actually entailed. They listed the wide variety
of extra curriculums in UCD that are available to all students attending
the university which included sport, drama, mock trials etc.

We were brought on a tour around the university by present UCD
students. We were amazed by the size of the university and the amount
of facilities available. We viewed the Olympic sized swimming pool and
gym. We also saw UCD’s very own cinema and library. Our tour guides
explained the purpose of the different buildings and a bit about each
course. We were in small groups so it was easier to get to know UCD.
The grounds of UCD were beautiful including the two lakes.

After the tour we grabbed a bite to eat in one of the many restaurants.
Then we hopped on the bus and headed back to Cavan.

Sorcha Higgins & Laura McClean

ALAN O’MARA

During our TY programme we had various talks
on different things that can help us as students to
evolve into young adults.
As a sportsman, I found myself more able to relate
to the stresses of Alan’s busy schedule. He really
opened up all our eyes to the realities of depression
and how it latches onto you and how hard it is to
recognise something is up.
We could not believe how a man with such passion and commitment for his sports and his friends would be able to nearly
shut them out of his life completely. And what was even more unbelievable is how the smallest thing could set you on the
road to recovery. A simple, “is everything ok ?”, is all it could take.
Through his talk we found him very inspirational in how he coped with depression then and how he copes with it now.
We the TY students of the Royal School Cavan could not have had a better life lesson than what was shared by Alan that day.
“Truly inspirational”
Michael McKeon Boyle

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