On Friday 24 April, 1,000 students from 35 County Cork schools will gather in Silversprings Convention Centre, Cork for the annual award ceremony for the Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project. Prizes for the County edition are funded by Cork historian Kieran McCarthy, Laura’s/ Buckley’s Schoolwear, Cork,Lifetime Lab,and Sean Kelly of Lucky Meadows Equestrian Centre, Watergrasshill. 

Established in 2003, the School’s Heritage Project is co-ordinated by Kieran McCarthy who is also running as an Independent Councillor Candidate in South East Cork City. He along with the efforts of senior project judge Mr. Sean Kelly, Watergrasshill conduct project training workshops in all participating schools. The project is a youth forum for students to do research and offer their opinions on important decisions being made on their heritage in their locality and how they affect the lives of people locally. Kieran McCarthy, notes that “the aim of this project is to allow students to explore, investigate and debate their local heritage in a constructive and active way. It is important that we think about, understand, appreciate and make relevant in today’s society the role of our heritage- our landmarks, our oral histories, our scenery in our modern world for upcoming citizens. The Project also focuses on motivating and inspiring young people, giving them an opportunity to develop leadership and self development skills, which are very important in the world we live in today”.

Students can pick any topic to research and can participate as individuals, groups.  Students produce a project using primary material such as fieldwork, interviews, making models, DVDs of their area. Sean Kelly, the senior judge and one of the sponsors of the project is  giving class tours of Lucky Meadows Equestiran Centre for class winners. He noted that:

“As always the standard was very high this year. The top prizes, 60 in all,  have been given to students’ projects, which have taken a clever approach to the topic. Students experiment with the overall design and plan of their work. It is great to see students using modern uptodate technology to present their findings from mediums such as bebo to websites to camcorders to survey work. As part of the project, students also actively distill the information gathered back into the community. That includes discussing with schoolmates or parents, getting newspaper coverage or creating a newsletter with project work and findings detailed”.

Further details are avialable from Kieran McCarthy 086 6553389