Blessington Community College has been awarded “Best School” in the County Wicklow VEC Environmental Awareness Competition this year. This is a major achievement for the college. The prize was awarded for four outstanding projects produced by the Blessington students. The presentation of the awards took place at an exhibition in the Brocagh Centre in Laragh on Wednesday 11th of May.

The 5th year Art Class won 1st place in the Senior Cultural Category and the Best Overall Senior Award for their large scale painting entitled “Making Our Mark”. This painting depicts school life as a rollercoaster ride from 1st year to graduation and is painted in the style of Pop Artist Roy Lichtenstein. The painting will now be installed in the school concourse for long term display. Niamh Cleary and Alina Jitari picked up the awards on behalf of their classmates.

The 1st Year Art Class won 2nd place in the Junior Cultural Category for their puppet show “Red Riding Hood”. All aspects of the puppet show were created by the students, they made the puppets, designed the puppet theatre, wrote the script, created sound effects and preformed the show for all the pupils of St Marys Junior National School. Aaron Lowe, Katie Hamilton and Claire Francis picked up the award for their class.

Kyle Geraghty and Keith Kiely of the Transition Year won 3rd place in the Natural Environment Category for their project entitled “Preserving our Heritage”. This project involved the cleanup of a local “Holy Well” known as St. Patricks Well and the creation of a sign to mark the location of the well.

Students from Transition Year also entered a project in the Social Environment Category entitled “Community Care” which involved students working with the elderly in the local day centre. This is part of a continuing initiative were by students from the college work at bridging the gap between teenagers and the elderly and raising awareness