TY – Don’t Waste An Opportunity
Leah Kenny survived the Leaving Cert and has some advice for anyone about to start Transition Year .
Leah mentoring Primary School students
Transition Year was without a doubt one of the best years that I had in school.
I don’t know if that was to do with the new experiences I had, the people I spent it with or my personality, but I honestly thought it was great. Looking back on it now there are a few things that I would tell new TY students so that they can get the full ‘TY experience.
First of all: You get out of Transition Year what you put into it. Everyone always says that Transition Year is the ‘doss year’ where nobody does anything, but that’s not necessarily true. If you do not volunteer for things and push yourself to try new things and get out of your comfort zone, then you are going to be bored. You have to volunteer to come to Bridge21 and while you’re there try your hardest. You have to ask your teachers if your class can take Mandarin instead of French or go rowing in P.E or visit the Cliffs of Moher. Your teachers will help but they can’t do it all for you.
I think my favourite part of TY was meeting new people, and by extension Bridge21 in general. I met some really good friends during the weeks that I spent crammed into pods and making ridiculous movies about magic wands. The people who make it to Bridge21, I believe, are the best kind of people. Meeting new people and making new friends isn’t easy and you will have to push yourself if you’re not naturally outgoing, but I swear it will be worth the few hours of discomfort.
TY students in Trinity
Transition Year is unique in the sense that it’s the one year where academic achievement is not paramount. Therefore, I strongly advise that you embrace those weeks of no homework and chilled out classes because you will miss them when fifth year comes around and relaxing time is replaced by homework time. So basically, when you’re not making the most of TY or making new friends, enjoy the chance to do your own thing. Sit in the grass and stare at the clouds, even when it’s raining, spend time with your friends and do not worry about what’s ahead of you because that isn’t important until it actually arrives.
I think that’s all the advice I can come up with right now. So to recap: do all of the things you can, make new friends, try your hardest,push yourself out of your comfort zone and remember that relaxing is super important. Oh, and enjoy yourself, but then again that’s a given when Bridge21 is involved.
You can check out Leah and her team teaching the rest of us how to Samba here…
[youtube width=”500″ height=”405″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLKjbh_mt0I[/youtube]
