BY SEMI MCHUGH
After the Junior Cert, students have a choice to make: continue swiftly through two more years or take a break and enter TY. I chose the latter. but a lot choose to get it over with. Some of you trying to make this decision may be undecided and that's why I'm here. Time to get the ball rolling in your mind on what you want to choose.
TY isn't mandatory in every school, and the programmes vary in quality. In Endas, where I go to school, we're lucky to have Ms Collins and Mr Glynn to coordinate our year well, but not every school is as fortunate as mine. But, having the chance to go to Kildare Village isn't the only thing you should consider when choosing whether to go into TY or not. You might not be able to predict the future, but you know yourself. Think about what you need to focus on and the answer on whether to attend TY will come to you easily. I'll give you a brief overview on how my TY operates.
We're not supposed to cover any Leaving Cert material in TY, so classes can feel very stagnant when you're not learning anything new. In my school, we rotate the teachers when we have subjects like maths and Irish. One thing I've come to realise with these rotations is that teachers matter a lot when in class. For the longest time I struggled with maths, but having a different teacher, it's become less of a dreaded subject. I'm not saying maths is easy now or anything, but it makes understanding the subject feel more achievable than before.
We rotate on senior cycle choice subjects too — think History, DCG, Physics. If your school gave you tasters in first year before launching you into choosing subjects, it's like that but on a larger scale. Subjects you thought you'd like might seem ugly to you, others that you didn't have any interest in might start to sit as an option in the back of your mind. It's all about discovering what you like and dislike, you never know if you don't try. It's helpful to meet teachers you wouldn't have subjects with otherwise, and learn a bit more about the school community.
Don't forget that in TY, you miss a lot of classes. If you genuinely enjoy studying (which, how? ), TY mightn't suit you. You'll be away on workshops, trips, work-experience and doing jobs for teachers around your school. It's a lot of activity. Your school might be doing a play, and if so, try it out! I'm not saying go up on stage and sing, there are other ways you can contribute. Helping with the set and stage direction might be available options to you if you ask, and they contribute to the final product just as much as acting.
The timing for you is very important. If you don't know what you want to do, attend TY. Even if you don't do much in school, you'll have time to try work experience and get a better idea of how the working world operates. If you struggled with the Junior Cert, take the break. They launch you right into the deep end in 5th year, and you have no time to catch your breath before you're submerged into study and pressure. You know what's going on in your head, or at the very least you understand how it makes you feel; consider that. Take the time you can to grow more comfortable in your own skin.
Now, maybe you haven't decided if you're going to join TY for sure yet, but I hope that's helped you somehow. For the people who are dead-set on TY, I want to share how I've made the most of it so far. There's a lot of time to fill, and if you have trouble filling it, here are some ideas:
Invest in what you want to do
Think about something you'd like to do, or improve on. TY gives you a lot of free time to invest in what you want to do, and if you're willing to take advantage of that, do! A lot of my interests and hobbies were pushed aside in third year in favor of study, but now that I'm in TY, I can give them the attention I've wanted to give them. I've gotten back into ballet for the first time since quarantine, I've started reading more, playing guitar is fun again and I have the time to write creative works. Passion is back, guys! It's not all about wondering what I'll do with my life when school is over!
Bless your CV! Work experience helps, even the smallest bit. I took up a small bit of work in the summer before coming back to school, and now I know how to give people their receipts and count up money at the end of the working day. You are reading the article I wrote that's published in a very real newspaper, that's a very cool achievement to have at 16. Everyday you spend working in a different place is a day you spend learning something new, and any new thing you've learnt will look impressive when you compile it with all the other skills you have. Plus, you can feel good about yourself after adding something new to the list.
I have a friend who's doing TY with me. His name's Elia and he's a pretty cool guy. He doesn't attend school on Monday's because he's working with the Galway City Partnership in the Plaza Offices, teaching people English and helping them adapt to immigrating to Ireland. It means something to him, and it has an impact on other peoples' lives (a positive impact ). TY gives you that chance to do something like that, something that can help other people and make you feel nice. You have all the capacity in the world to help someone, all you need is the time.
To make a long story short: make decisions based on the now and what you know about yourself. You can't predict how a situation of even you will change over the next three, six, twelve months. It just takes a little reflection, ask yourself a few key questions and the answer will become more clear to you. You know what you want, you just need to uncover it.
