Largy College Science students win Saffron travel Science Competition
Congratulations to a group of 2nd year Science students in Largy College who are after winning the Saffron Travel Science Competition. For the competition students had to make a 3 minute video on how Science and Technology integrate different modes of transport to make travelling easier, cleaner and more energy efficient in their community in the next 10-20 years. Their winning video was selected from 140 entries to win the competition. For the film the students carried out a research survey to see how many cars were currently at houses in the community and if the people of Clones would be willing to carpool or take the bus if it they went past their place of work. They discovered that 100% of people surveyed would love if Clones Railway would open again too. The proposals that the students put forward were all important to the environment because transport accounts for a high percentage of carbon dioxide emissions.
One option was to reopen the railway and use hydrogen powered trains with passengers getting credit for their journey if they recycle plastic bottles in the train station. Another option was to extend the current Ulster Canal Greenway for using ebikes with users getting a free gift every 100km by using a phone app to calculate their kms travelled. Carpooling was another possibility using electric cars with eflow doing a head count as they pass through the toll and the more people in the car the less you have to pay. It was also suggested to use electric buses because under the National Development Plan Ireland has committed to no longer purchase diesel buses and those that travel by bus should get a reduction in their next journey. The students also wanted to know what their councils commitment was in relation to helping to combat climate change so they interviewed Cllr. Seamus Coyle Cathaoirleach for the film.
The prize was for 20 students to go on the Saffron Science European border hoppin’ experience and it was sponsored by Saffron Travel, eflow and Intelligent Transport systems. They travelled to Belgium, Holland and Germany from Friday 17th Jan to Sunday 19th Jan. On the first day after an early start, the students arrived in Zaventem where they were picked up by coach and were brought to the Technopolis Interactive Science Museum. After lunch they were then brought into Brussels to see all the tourist attractions Grand Place and Maneken Pis and then out to a resatuarant that evening. On the second day after breakfast in the hotel the students went to Aqualand Waterpark followed by a trip to Cologne and dinner. On the final day the students spent the day at Efteling Themepark and everyone arrived home late that night. It was a remarkable achievement and a fun time was had by all!!!
