The annual Young Social Innovators programme (YSI) - in which second-level students tackle important social issues - is now a major force, with 30,000 people taking part this year. Here, six YSI participants give the lowdown on various events around the country
OVER THE last two months, thousands of Irish people between the ages of 15 and 18 have spoken out. At eight Speak Out events around the country, Young Social Innovators have put their powerful messages of social justice across in song, dance, drama and art. The Young Social Innovators (YSI) programme, which invites young people to tackle the social issues most important to them, is now a considerable social force, with 30,000 people taking part this year. It's big news among roving school reporters, as this week's Transition Times illustrates. Read on for the view from the ground.
STEPHEN SINNOTT OATLANDS COLLEGE, STILLORGAN, CO DUBLIN
A few months back, when I first signed up for the YSI class at my school in Oatlands College, I was sceptical about it. However, as the weeks passed, I came to realise that it was in no way like any subject that I had done before.
Initially, our class was divided up into two separate groups by our teacher, Ms Mc Alpine. Each company focused on different aspects of Irish society. My group's subject matter was "Integration for the Nation". Our remit was to inform others on the problems that foreign migrants face in their daily lives. We also wanted to find ways in which ordinary Irish people could welcome and support our new neighbours. Our group is working day and night, making posters and notices, writing reports and articles, ringing different societies and organising school events such as non-uniform days to bring the issues of integration and domestic abuse into the public eye.
On January 29th, the whole YSI class travelled to Griffith College in Dublin to participate in the 2008 Speak Out Forum. Our school was not alone as hundreds of other pupils from all over the country descended on the campus that morning.
There were a small number of special guests, including Tom Kitt TD, Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, Lord Mayor Paddy Burke and entrepreneur/aspiring astronaut Bill Cullen.
Each group was required to present a short performance or speech on the topic of their project.
I was astounded and taken aback by the amount of hard work and enthusiasm that a large number of groups had put into their acts. All of the pieces performed had underlying and important messages within them - depression, racism and poverty - and were all conveyed very well by the respecting schools. For our act, we presented a small mime/dance routine which illustrated the meaning of integration.
Many of us had expected it to flop. In the end, however, it turned out to be a huge success. The Speak Out had quite an effect on me. By the end of it, I had a learnt a lot about the different problems in our society as well as international ones. I was also alerted to the dedication and passion a lot of young people have in trying to solve social problems at home and abroad. This shows that we are not all selfish and uncaring as many people fear.
LISA CAREY ST BRIGID'S COLLEGE, CALLAN, CO KILKENNY
We had an eye-opening day in the Woodlands Hotel, Ardkeen, Waterford, as all budding Young Social Innovators took to the stage to perform their two-minute Speak Outs on today's most controversial social issues. Hosted by Kilkenny County Council and YSI, the day was jam-packed with insightful and enthusiastic Speak Outs on topical issues such as homelessness, sudden death syndrome, fair trade, contraception and pregnancy and blood and organ donation. Some of the more innovative groups sang, performed and danced their way through their Speak Outs.
St Mary's in New Ross used a snowflake to show how everyone is unique and perfect the way they are. From indie to urban, and farmers to playboy bunnies, their catwalk emphasised the importance of being happy in your own skin. Many projects referred to eating disorders and personal image and this is a huge issue for teenagers growing up in Ireland today.
Knockbeg Boy's School in Carlow brought a lot of humour to the proceedings but also hit home some great social issues. In particular, they used their personal experience of the loss of a grandparent to highlight the plight of the loneliness of the elderly.
The best wine was left till last when the girls of Saint Brigid's Callan used their two minutes to show the 600-strong crowd "how to save a life" through blood and organ donation. You could hear a pin drop as we drove home the message that one hour of your time can save a life. The Speak Out sent the message out loud and clear that young people of Ireland have a voice.
AISLING CROWLE ST JOSEPH'S, LUCAN, CO DUBLIN
An early bus journey led us to the Regency Hotel in north Dublin, where the long-awaited Speak Out was to be held. Schools and youth groups from around Dublin crowded the reception trying to register in time. We gawked in amazement at some of the costumes and props that surrounded us. This was going to be an interesting day! Thirty-two groups performed. Some got their message across through a speech while others used a totally different medium such as song, dance and acting, truly embracing the imagination and creativity of YSI. Our project, "Get Skinny or Die Trying" examines the media and its effects on young people. We had different aspects of the media such as radio (special thanks to Joe Duffy for paying a visit), television, magazines and models who all surrounded the two hopeless youths, trapped in the dangerous waters of the media.
Wings of Redemption (A band from St Joseph's College, Rush) entertained us during the break with some of their own songs and performed again at the end of the Speak Out.
At the end of the presentations, we were fed and watered by the kind staff of the Regency Hotel, who laid out a spread of tea, sandwiches and drinks. Sadly, the day was over and we all crowded onto our buses and headed back to school. The Speak Out is over - now the real work begins!
CONOR HEALY OATLANDS COLLEGE, STILLORGAN, CO DUBLIN
Many people questioned why a group of lads would cover an issue - domestic violence - that is seemingly unconnected with us, affecting mainly females in the world. Why not pick something closer to what we know, like underage drinking or football violence?
But the issue of domestic violence is what we, a TY group at Oatlands, decided to take on as part of our YSI project.
Initially, the choice of focus for our YSI classes for the year was problematic. We'd all heard the shock stories in the news, the ones that everyone talks about for a while; the ones that filter around our communities and make worrying statistics to read. The inspiration to take on domestic violence came from headlines too, of course, but there were several other hooks that made us want to explore the topic more. One was the case of Mary Brown [not her actual name], a mother-of-two murdered in her house, which made us realise what it was like to be a victim. We were also disturbed to discover the government's apparent lack of interest in the issue; people in our group found this unfair and difficult to understand.
Our attention was also caught by In Her Shoes, an exhibition highlighting domestic violence (by which 135 women in Ireland have died since 1996), which put into pictures the emotions connected with this issue - loneliness, despair, misery and fear.
It seemed to us to be an issue that we could actually make a dent in, one that we could raise awareness of, and in the process educate ourselves and others about the effects it has on families across the country.
We felt challenged to tackle an issue that affected the community deeply but one that lay in the shadows of society, one that was serious enough to be a worrying problem with a lack of public awareness. We found out that the ripple effects are devastating; families are broken up, communities are disconnected, men as well as women are physically and mentally ruined by domestic violence. And shocking too is the statistic that 64 per cent of women who experienced violence in the home reported that their children had witnessed the violence too. People need to get help in a way that makes them feel secure, and to be able to do it quickly and efficiently.
That help was evident when some of our group visited Rathmines Refuge centre, open 24 hours a day, offering safe accommodation for women and children fleeing domestic violence. We read shocking stories from children who described life on the receiving end in a family affected by domestic violence. We learned how women are made to feel put-down and worthless and often have to deal with other, related problems such as depression, addiction to alcohol or a heavy dependence on sleeping tablets. Organisations like Women's Aid and Amen offer refuge, confidential advice, counselling services and respite for families.
As part of our project, we maintain regular contact with the Refuge Centre, sending donations of clothes for the families, and last week, we sent personalised Mother's Day cards and gifts to the women in the centre. We took part in a public speaking forum (Speak Out) in Griffith College with several other schools from Leinster in the company of Sr Stanislaus and the Lord Mayor Paddy Burke. We were also selected by our principal to present our topic of domestic violence to representatives from Notre Dame University Iowa who are coming to our school in May, and we are happy to continue to raise awareness wherever we can.
Now we know how widespread the problem is in Ireland, our group finds it inconceivable that we should allow it to fester and rot in our society anymore. When you think about it, it's is a pretty good lesson for the next generation of adult males to have learned.
KEVIN O'ROURKE COLÁISTE PHÁDRAIG, LUCAN, CO DUBLIN
February 19th: crunch time for the Transition Years of Coláiste Phádraig, as our YSI project made it's public debut. The Speak Out is the first main event in the YSI calendar and it is the performance here which decides whether a school will go on to compete at the main exhibition later in the year. Or so we thought.
As a matter of fact, it wasn't crunch time at all; the organisers have a bigger venue this year and invited all the entries back for the main event. Fair enough. This took away the competitive edge, and so we were able to stop scoping out the enemy and get to know them over sandwiches and orange instead. We spent the lunch break wandering around the hotel, making new acquaintances and avoiding old ones, all the while soaking up the YSI atmosphere. The lunch was an extremely welcome break - the event started at about 10am and went straight on till nearly one o'clock, with only a momentary pause, during which a band of four teenagers played one song. Our school was first up on the list of entries, but we weren't worried: the order in which each school had their time onstage was random. Then, however, came the announcement that we were up second. That killed the mood a little. Luckily though, we were very well prepared. Other schools were still practising their routines in the hallway before the event started. We, on the other hand, had practised our speech for so many weeks that our speakers and actors knew it off by heart. We just had to tweak it a little bit the beforehand.
Once onstage, the nerves dissipated as we prepared to take care of business. Our representatives performed admirably, and the relief of this meant that the mood in our camp was far more relaxed for the rest of the day. Over the course of the afternoon, we were treated to a diverse and original range of projects, from songs about not-so-finger- friendly fireworks to large dancing bottles of Heineken.
We saw all the Leinster entries in those few hours - with every second one seeming to come from some kind of Loreto College - and then heard two more songs from the band. After this came lunch, and then it was time to leave. The next time our motley bunch of schools will get together is for the main all-Ireland event; until then, the students of Coláiste Phádraig CBS and our fellow Young Social Innovators will fine-tune our projects and continue to change the world.
AISLING BARRETT OUR LADY OF LOURDES, NEW ROSS, CO WEXFORD
We had so much fun at the YSI Speak Out in Waterford on February 26th, 2008. We are doing our project on the important issue of Fairtrade. We were inspired to do our project when we read that over 22 per cent of the world's population lives on less than €1 a day. I mean, can you imagine trying to feed your family and live with dignity on that paltry amount? Our class wants to change this by making our school a Fairtrade school, as we believe that Fairtrade is a committed global organisation that guarantees fair prices for Third World producers.
For our Speak Out, we did a comedy routine detailing the different products that Fairtrade sell. Our whole class took part: some dressed up as bananas, some as tea and some as sugar. We were trying to highlight all of the different products and encourage supermarket owners to stock more of them. After all, the whole point of the Young Social Innovators challenge is for young people to make a difference in their society - and if we can help the underprivileged people of the world, so much the better.
