Students strive to tackle social issues innovatively

ARMBANDS that could help save the lives of pedestrians are being designed by students whose friend was killed in a road accident.

Nicola Byron and Gillian Geaney were prompted by the death of a friend to examine pedestrian safety awareness.

“The number of pedestrians killed on the roads is very high, even more than the number of drivers,” explained Nicola.

Her classmate Gillian said that pedestrians and drivers must change their behaviour.

“Some people think it’s not cool to wear armbands, so we’re designing our own,” she said.

The students are working on the project for this year’s Young Social Innovators (YSI) scheme.

They are among some 5,000 transition year students who have been voicing their opinions on social issues in a series of events around the country.

But more importantly, they are also offering solutions to some of the problems facing them and their peers.

At the latest Speak Out event yesterday, students from 30 Cork and Kerry schools took to the stage at Cork City Hall.

Blarney students Tomás Barrett and Liam Sheehan were alarmed to discover the number of harmful substances in the thousands of mobile phones which people dispose of every year.

“Some of them are very dangerous, things like cadmium and beryllium, so we decided to raise awareness about this,” explained Liam.

The pair have come up with ways of encouraging others to recycle their phones instead of dumping them, with a collection box placed in the school which will also benefit the Jack and Jill Foundation children’s charity.

“People have boxes full of phones in their homes but they’re creating terrible damage to the environment when they go to landfill sites,” said Tomás.

Among the other topics raised in the 50 projects

outlined yesterday were disability issues, healthy eating, the impacts of advertising and celebrity role models, nuclear energy, Travellers, suicide and depression, violence and gambling.

Students around the country will be completing their project reports over the next five weeks in the hope of being included in the Young Social Innovators (YSI) showcase next May.

YSI chief executive Rachel Collier said it is important to allow young people’s voices to be heard.

“Through events like this, we hope they will be encouraged to get involved in their local community and to vote, but also that their communities can come on board and support some of their projects,” she said.

The initiative is chaired by Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, who came up with the idea three years ago.