Young people full of hope, award show hears
More than 5,500 teenagers participated in this year’s Young Social Innovators, which encourages young people to tackle social issues that concern them.
Sr Stan, a co-founder of the annual event, now in its seventh year, said young people were full of hope for the future.
“These people will be good leaders and they will make the right choices. I have no doubt about that,” she said.
More than 25,000 students have participated in Young Social Innovators since the event began, tackling a diverse range of social issues.
A total of 120 projects were selected for the Young Social innovators Showcase 2009, staged in the RDS, Dublin, and all were contending for the coveted title of Young Social Innovators of the Year.
This year, however, the top award was won by students from Coláiste Bhride, Carnew, Co Wicklow, and St Peter’s College, Dunboyne, Co Meath, for their joint project entitled “The Butterfly Effect.”
As well as highlighting poverty, the students tried living in poverty for a week and also produced a book on poverty that includes contributions from writers Sebastian Barry, Seamus Heaney and Anne Enright.
“We deserved to win because we put so much effort into our project about poverty, the biggest social issue in the world today,” said Orla Hughes, 16, a fourth year student at Coláiste Bhride.
Runners-up were Moyle Park College, Clondalkin, in Dublin, for their project ‘Hairless Whisper’, which looked at how people cope emotionally with cancer.
Third place went to CBS Secondary School, Tralee, Co Kerry, for their project called “For Sale, For Race” that addressed the urgent social problem of the ‘boy racer culture.’
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