This award-winning student is combining an altruistic drive with a career focus

Limerick girl Emily Duffy is facing her Leaving Cert this year having made a difficult decision not to enter the Young Scientist Technology Exhibition for the first time since she became a secondary school student.

The 17-year-old still has time to change her mind. The closing date is September 28 but she now wants to focus on her Leaving Cert to qualify for studying for her potential career, a career inspired in particular by one of her four entries to the exhibition.

As a third year student at Desmond College, in Newcastlewest, Emily designed and built a lightweight sleeping bag for the homeless, made of metallic bubblewrap, which would trap air bubbles to increase warmth and be fire and rain resistant.