Cooking Class, Glasnevin, Debate and Thanks

Patrick Loughran, Marc Monestime, and Taylor Ryan



To start off Tuesday April 12, 2011 we sat in on Mr. Doyle’s homeroom class, which was about ten minutes long. During homeroom there was a fundraiser going on for a student named Marc Owens who is suffering from cancer and is getting treatment in Texas. They were selling blue bracelets with the initials “UDM”. This stands for “You Da Man” which is a phrase he was known for. The entire school community here has rallied to support him and his family. The BC High students all bought wristbands to help.

Following homeroom, we went to a cooking class in which we made scones with Mrs. McNamara. We were also taught how to make Brown Soda Bread. After cooking the scones, all of us pitched in to help Mrs. McNamara clean the dishes. At the conclusion of the cooking, we sat down and had our scones with a cup of tea together. We would like to give a special thanks to Mrs. McNamara, who set everything up, demonstrated the cooking, and helped us cook our scones.

Later on that day, we went to Glasnevin Cemetery. This cemetery holds 1.3 million graves, including those of Daniel O’Connell, Michael Collins, Charles Stewart Parnell, Brendan Behan and many other famous Irish men and women. In O’Connell’s tomb, his family lay next to him in separate coffins. Right outside the crypt, next to his tomb are the graves of famous and rich citizens. If one had money, he or she could purchase a grave site next to other famous people. It was a great experience seeing such history in one cemetery. (Patrick Loughran and Marc Monestime)




Today at 4 PM was the long awaited debate. When we first arrived a few days ago, we had to pick our topic quickly: "this house should abandon nuclear power." We decided to be in favor of this movement. Our logic behind this was that since Ireland does not have any nuclear power, we would take the side our opposition would be most comfortable with. Today when we arrived at school, our four debaters (Jay Salerno, Pat Connolly, Trevor Schramm, and myself) split from the group when they went to cookery to prepare for the debate. We spent about an hour outlining our case and then ate the delicious scones that our fellow students made for us. After, we solidified our argument and took a lunch break. Fast forward to 4pm. A good number of students from Belvo showed up to watch the debate. We went about the debate as best we could and tried our best. Going into it I was a bit nervous, but I soon realized it was much more casual than I had expected.
Once we all spoke, the adjudicators stepped out of the room to decide a winner. This was when the audience was allowed to ask questions, some of which were very funny. We then were given the classic "Everyone's a winner speech" by the judge followed by the verdict. BCH emerged victorious! It was a great debate and everyone, involved or not, definitely had a great time. The debate overall was an absolute success. (Taylor Ryan)

After the debate, there was yet one more event in our busy day. We held the formal “farewell” event in the beautiful rooms of the oldest building on campus. The mothers did a beautiful job putting on the event, and there were a number of speeches by both groups recognizing the success we’ve enjoyed and our gratitude to our partners in this endeavor. Gifts were exchanged, with all the BC High students receiving Belvedere hoodies.