Mayo students selected for four-day educational trip to Euroscola

Four secondary school students from Mayo have been announced as the lucky winners of a four day educational trip to Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg.

Jack Rochford, St. Gerald’s College, Castlebar, Caoimhe English-McNamara, Coláiste Polail Acla, Paul Flatley, St. Coleman’s College, Claremorris, and Molly McManamon, Coláiste Pobail Acla will be accompanied on their trip by 21 other students from across Ireland and three supervising teachers.

They will spend one full day at the European Parliament in Strasbourg where they will take part in a youth parliament (Euroscola) with students from across EU member states.

The winning students entered the weekly Graduate.ie online citizenship & democracy competition where they answered questions about democracy and local government, environment & waste management, health & wellbeing, financial literacy, sport, careers, courses, etc. by clicking on links to sponsors websites where they researched the information.

They submitted their answers to Graduate.ie and computer randomly selected the Mayo students from all the correct entries.

Their trip has been kindly funded by Mayo County Council.

Coláiste Pobail Acla teacher, Miss Marie Moran, commented: “This is a fantastic opportunity for the students involved to experience learning outside the classroom and will give them a wonderful chance to gain new skills, new attitudes and new ways of thinking.”

The highlight for the award winning students will be attending Euroscola in the European Parliament in Strasbourg along with 450 other students from schools in the EU.

There they will be given an opportunity to research and discuss topics relevant to their future lives. Last year they discussed topics such as; What can we do to promote Sustainable development? And what role should Europe play in the context of migration and integration? They also had an opportunity to discuss the challenges of Youth Employment.

Liam Hanrahan, Director of Services, Mayo County Council, said: “Mayo County Council are pleased to support the Graduate.ie Programme. It is an excellent platform for students to learn about local democracy and many other very important topics. While taking part in the weekly quiz students learn about various organizations, who they are and what they do.

“The students will develop important life skills such as preparing for the world of work, teamwork, collaboration and valuable insights into the vocational dimensions of life after school. They will also have the opportunity to experience how European democracy works.”

Pictured are Jack Rochford, St. Gerald’s College, Castlebar, Caoimhe English-McNamara, Coláiste Coláiste Pobail Acla, Paul Flatley, St. Coleman’s College, Claremorris and Molly McManamon, Coláiste Pobail Acla pictured with former cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council, Councillor Blackie K. Gavin.