Fore teenager makes two national finals
(Above) Patrick D'Arcy, who is a student at Castlepollard Community School.
A young Castlepollard Community College student represented the school at two national finals last week.
Patrick D’Arcy from Fore was selected to represent Westmeath in the National Student Enterprise competition and in the Foróige National Enterprise competition.
The TY student designed a system that would be used alongside a house alarm system to helper younger family members leave the home in the event of a fire.
“When my sister was little she slept through a fire alarm. Thankfully it was a fire alarm test but mum took her to get her hearing checked and it was perfect.
“Over the years I have heard people discuss sleeping through alarms so I decided to design a prototype that would work with the alarm to ensure every member of the house woke when the house system was activated.
“I was not successful at national level after winning the county and some regional stages. This is down to the fact that I only managed to build a prototype.
"The winners were amazing school teams that in a short time went through design, focus group, prototype and then production. So what I am taking away from this part of the competition and back to our school is the importance of getting out there and making sales. “
The TY student received important feedback from judges, who praised the ingenuity and creativity and were most impressed by Patrick’s sales pitch on the day of competition in Athlone.
“This is one of the reasons TY is such a great choice for students. The time to enter a competition like this and meet amazing people and other schools along the way.
"I’m really grateful to my teachers, especially Ms Hayes, who helped me from a TY point of view, Mr Murphy and Mr Gilsenan, who helped me to put together the project, and Mr McGrath, who took me to the competition.
“Also to our principal Ms Coyle, who always encourages us to enter competitions. I would be quite shy about putting myself forward and this competition meant I had to put myself forward and chat to people.”
After winning the Westmeath Heat of the Student Enterprise competition, Westmeath LEO, who are based in the County Buildings in Mullingar organised mentorship for Patrick to help explore his prototype.
“Catherine Darby helped me to find a patent mentor, and I think learning about LEO and what they do to support business was an important part of the competition,” said Patrick.
Patrick was also named male ‘Student of the Year’ for his TY year alongside his friend Ava Fagan, who was the female Student of the Year.
The two were named in a special online Zoom graduation ceremony. TY students from Castlepollard Community College were posted out their TY half zips and a party pack to celebrate the end of this iconic year together.