When I started transition year in Presentation College Headford last September, I wasn’t sure what the year ahead would bring. I feared at the start it would be a year I regretted doing. However I am now in my final two months of transition year and I am mournful that it is coming to an end. On my very first day, my TY coordinator told us, “Your transition year is what you make of it.” I promised myself that I was going to make the most out of it and take every opportunity given to me, a few of which I will share in this article.
By the end of September, my year had all taken a first aid and manual handling course which earned us certificates in these important areas. Along with this, we had a team building day which really helped our year bond and become more comfortable with each other, which proved to be important in future activities.
In October along with two of my friends, we were given the opportunity of organising Mental Health Week within our school community. Mental health is a subject I am very passionate about, and helping out with this really important week let me showcase this, along with my creativity.
Student Enterprise Programme
One of the most valuable experiences I got during transition year was entering into the Student Enterprise Programme. This is a competition in which students set up and run their own mini businesses. My friends and I entered our idea Emoto Colour, which is a colouring book that depicts mental illnesses and disorders. We ended up winning the Social Enterprise Award for Galway with our product. We learned so much during this programme, and publishing our colouring book made me realise that writing was a career option I would like to pursue in the future.
Some other projects I got to be involved in were LGBT Stand Up Week, the making and distributing of St Brigid's crosses to the elderly in the community, and Daffodil Day for the Irish Cancer Society. I also joined the Foroige Leadership for Life Programme in school as well as the Young St Vincent De Paul Society. These two clubs allowed me to make friends with people of similar interests who I never would have had the confidence to talk to otherwise.
My classmate Ciara Joyce shared her feelings on her transition year experience by saying: “My experience of transition year was very good! However, we were limited in certain areas due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Our year still made the most of the year and did more activities and workshops in school rather than outside school.” She continued: “I think I got to experience a lot of things this year that I wouldn’t have gotten to experience otherwise, and overall I think TY is a worthwhile year!”
Ted Little, a student from fifth year in my school, shared his feelings on his decision to skip transition year. He stated: “I decided to not do TY because I already knew what I wanted to do in college and I wanted to progress to this as soon as I could. I sometimes regret not doing it when I see all the activities people in TY are doing, but since I’m nearly done fifth year I’m glad I’m one step closer to my goals.”
I thoroughly enjoyed my year and I have my school to thank for this. Every school and every person's transition year experience is unique but that is what I think makes it such a valuable year. I know that if I went into transition year with the idea that it would be a ‘doss year’ then I wouldn’t have got as much out of it as I did. My advice is if you go into transition year with a glass half empty approach, that is all you will leave with. However, if you go in with a glass half full, you will leave with one full to the brim.
