Cork students awarded for anxiety awareness projects

STUDENTS from two Cork schools have secured funding to help bring about positive change for their peers.

The students, who are from Beara Community School and Carrigtwohill Community College, were granted a total of €1,000 from the Young Social Innovators’ Social Impact Fund.

Young Social Innovators is a nationwide social awareness and active citizenship programme that encourages young people to help improve the lives of others in their community.

Those taking part in Cork recently pitched their ideas for the fund to a Dragons’ Den type panel which included representatives from Cork County Council, Cork Partnership, Virgin Media, and Rethink Ireland.

Both winning groups designed projects surrounding anxiety. The students from Carrigtwohill Community College were awarded €500 for their project ‘There's Room for Relaxation’, which aims to design a sensory room at the school and a website and booklet discussing anxiety and the ways to alleviate it.

Beara Community School also received €500 for ‘Finding NEMO!’, a project that aims to teach students about some of the sources of anxiety for young people. 

The team will use the funding to design and print a series of posters on the topic and to provide distraction boxes for each year group area in the school.

In total, around €10,000 was granted to 18 YSI teams through the fund, which is supported by The Community Foundation for Ireland.

“The applications submitted by young people to the Social Impact Fund were of a very high calibre and we are delighted to provide direct support to eighteen inspiring youth-led projects to help them advance their innovations which will make a real difference in their communities,” said Rachel Collier, CEO and Co-founder of Young Social Innovators.

“Witnessing the professionalism in which these students presented their ideas was truly remarkable and we wish them the very best of luck.” 

Denise Charlton, Chief Executive of The Community Foundation for Ireland added: “We wish all those involved every success and look forward to seeing the freshness and energy they will bring to finding solutions to a range of issues.”