Mr Declan Lucey of Cork Simon talking to Transition Year students of Douglas Community School about his work.
Every year Douglas C.S. raises money for this worthy cause.

Douglas Community School Choir performing in The Cork Choral Festival under the direction of Mr Ger O’ Connell.

German meatballs, Polish Bigos and Indian Curry

Sandra Hamilton

Ireland has become a multicultural country and Douglas Community School reflects this modern Ireland. We are a Community School in name but also in ethos. Students from 23 different countries studied in our school this year. It only seemed right to organize an International Day. Teachers, students and parents from Ireland, Poland, Germany, Russia, Latvia, India, Hungary, Nigeria etc. organised music, food and film events. Some of our students taught their languages to Irish teachers and students, and know one can hear greetings such as ‘Guten Tag’, ‘tschest’ and ’strastwuitje’ whenever a non- Irish national student is spotted.

Talking to the students I realise that the day has not only filled bellies, but also heads. Everybody learned something about a different culture today. Be it even that German meatballs are almost as good as their Russian counterparts!

Douglas CS athletes had another busy weekend on the track & field front with athletes competing in the 2nd legs of the South Munster Schools T&F and the Cork County u14-u19 T&F in CIT. Saturdays races were held in pleasant conditions with Douglas CS athletes again taking home plenty of medals.

In the minor boys 100m Conor Foley finished 4th and the 4*100m relay team came 2nd. In the junior boys 1500m Peter Hanrahan was 4th and Shaun Healy 5th. Robert O’ Neill and Jason Moloney finished 1st and 2nd in the walk in their first ever attempt at the event. The boys u16 mile resulted in Conor O’ Brien and Brian Murray finishing 3rd and 4th narrowly missing out on breaking 5 mins.

Richard Quirke continued his impressive form in the inter boys 1500m taking 2nd in a time of 4.34. Alan O’ Brien came 3rd and John Kidney 4th. In the boys 1500m S/C David O’ Keeffe had an easy win, with Chris Murphy 2nd. In the inter 400m Adam Kelleher won a great bronze medal. Alex Kelly took gold in the inter boys walk with Chris Murphy 2nd. Craig Harrington finished 2nd in both the senior 1500m and 2k s/c.

The weather on Sunday wasn’t ideal with wind and rain the order of the day. However this did not deter the Douglas athletes who again brought home plenty of medals. Ian Tobin ran very well to take bronze in the u14 800m. Patrick Coleman took silver in the u15 800m with Robert O’ Neill 4th. In the u16 800m three Douglas athletes battled together on the home straight with Brian Murray just taking the bronze medal, with Peter Hanrahan 4th and Conor O’ Brien 5th. Both Alan O’ Brien and Richard Quirke were 2nd in their 800m u17 & u18 respectively.

In the 3,000m David O’ Keeffe added another county title to his name with victory and Chris Murphy came 2nd. James Fennell produced another great display taking 2nd in the u18 race with John Kidney 3rd. Craig Harrington took 3rd in the u19 3,000m. All in all a great weekend for Togher athletes and they now look forward to the Munster Schools T&F in Limerick next Saturday.

The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) promotes bioscience in Europe through targeted programmes and activities. The EMBO membership includes some of the leading researchers in Europe and represents a highly dynamic cross-section of the life sciences community. The organisation elects new members annually on the basis of proven excellence in research. Currently there are 1100 EMBO elected members in Europe and over 60 associate members globally. More than 43 members have been awarded the Nobel Prize and others have strong links with industry.

Cian O’ Mahony, a Biology Teacher in Douglas Community School has been selected to represent Ireland at EMBO in Heidelberg in Germany this May. Each year, 50 teachers are chosen from across 27 European countries to attend the three day education workshop. This year’s workshop will include scientific presentations and multidisciplinary discussions on the thematic content of secondary school biology curricula across Europe, with the aim of identifying subject and skill gaps in curricula and setting standards whilst respecting the European diversity. On the last day of the workshop the participants will be engaged in practical experiments in the labs of the EMBL and ExploHeidelberg.