Young engineers get building in Limerick school

OLDER readers will remember playing with some marla and basic building bricks in the classroom, but for students from St Paul’s National School in Dooradoyle robots and prototypes are now the name of the game.

Young engineers from the school showcased their Lego masterpieces at the FIRST Lego League Explore Masterpiece Showcase at the school last Wednesday. The event was attended by Mayor of Limerick, John Moran. 

Principal John Tuohy commented, “We couldn’t be prouder of our students’ remarkable achievements celebrated at the FIRST Lego League Masterpiece Showcase. Their dedication, creativity, and teamwork have truly shone through, demonstrating the incredible potential within our school community”.

In this year’s Masterpiece challenge, students are encouraged to showcase a variety of skills, from robotics, computer programming and research; to teamwork, communication and problem-solving. 

Limerick cyclist Fiona Mangan wins National Championship

Mangan claimed the National cycling Championship in Athea, Co. Limerick

FIRST stands for ‘For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology’. Its goal is to inspire young people between the ages of 4 and 16 to develop an understanding of the world they live in and to shape it in a sustainable and inclusive way.

The FIRST Lego League initiative is organised in Ireland and the UK by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) in partnership with Irish delivery partner, Dublin-based CreativeHUT. It is supported by funding from the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Discover Programme.  

Ross Maguire, founder of CreativeHUT, says “FIRST Lego League is a platform for students to discover the world of STEM and collaborate on real-world problems. These fantastic young people are taking the first steps to become tomorrow’s innovators, creators and problem solvers”.

Hannah Rees, Senior Education Manager of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) explained how this annual creative thinking challenge “encourages students to think like scientists and engineers”. She added that they are “incredibly pleased to see that participation by schools and youth group teams in the annual challenge has grown steadily in the past three years and is now a national programme in Ireland”.

The STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) grant provided by the Department of Education funded this school-based STEM learning programme.

To see more photos from the event, check out today's Limerick Leader newspaper.