Students honoured for being web wary

Students from Co Clare who worked to raise awareness among teenagers on how to stay safe online were yesterday named the Young Social Innovators of the Year 2014.

The transition-year students from Colaiste Mhuire, Ennis, Co Clare, said they chose their project — Beware of IT, because they felt many young people were developing an unhealthy online culture, with some becoming addicted to social network sites.

One of the students, Fionnuala McKay, 16, said they wanted to show young people how to avoid nasty or uncomfortable experiences on the internet.

The students showed how gullible young people could be by creating a false Facebook account that now had 1,350-plus ‘friends’ in just four months.

“We want young people to realise that they never really know who is behind the screen,” said Fionnuala, who said plans for the future include the development of a school policy on safe internet use.

Runners up at the 13th annual showcase, supported by the Vodafone Ireland Foundation, were students from Mount Mercy College, Model Farm Road, Cork, who tackled the issue of sexual assault.

The students developed a mobile phone app called ShakeSafe as part of their safety campaign that has an alarm, safety tips and a location finder that allows a text message to be sent to a nominated contact. They hope that the app will soon be available to download for free.

One of the students, Tara Ruxton, 16, said the project — Sexual Assault Must Come to a Halt, highlighted an issue that was a big problem for young people. “We are delighted to be one of the top winners because we feel so passionate about our project and want everyone to know about it,” she said.

In third place were students from Cashel Community School, Co Tipperary, for their project on raising awareness on concussion in sport — Without Your Brain you have no Game.

One of the students, Ornagh Morrissey, 17, said they wanted young people to realise that concussion could be fatal and developed a number of ways of getting the message across, including writing their own concussion awareness song.

This year more than 4,500 students attended the showcase at the Citywest Conference Centre, Saggart, Co Dublin.

The winners were chosen from 400 projects undertaken in 200 second-level schools and youth organisations throughout Ireland.