This article is from page 56 of the 2007-09-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 56 JPG
THE students of Mary Immaculate Secondary School in Lisdoonvarna last week presented the Stella Maris day care centre with a cheque for €5,500 – the proceeds of a very unu- sual charity marathon.
Earlier this year, the students of the school took part in a day long Sports Marathon, organised by the school’s fifth-year students.
“It was part of out LCVP exams in fifth year. We spoke to Mr Sims and Mr Harrison about what previ- ous years had done and we decided it would be good to run a Sports Marathon,’ said Ciana Garrihy from
Doolin.
“We handed out a questionnaire to all the students to see which sports were the most popular.
“We then printed up cards for all the students to raise money for the Stella Maris.
“We decided on the Stella Maris because it is something that effects everyone in the area. It’s local and they wanted to raise money for a Sec- ond bus to bring more people to the Conlsione
The school was divided into teams, each representing a local area. In the end, the bragging rights went to the Kilfenora team, who won the most points during the marathon.
“We decided that we would play volleyball and soccer. Each game was half an hour long, half the school played football in the morning at the pitch while the rest played volleyball in the school,” said Sean Cormican from Lisdoonvarna.
“Halft-way through we got a free bus from Peter Mooney and swapped around. Everyone really got into it and the teachers played a big part. They reffed the matches for us and helped out a lot.”
Along with scoring points for their performance in the marathon, each team was also awarded a point for every €5 raised for the Stella Maris. Third year student, Michael Griffey,
was the top earning student, raising more than €300 from his sponsor- ship card.
“We had a points system in place. The school was split into six different teams and awarded points depending on how they got on in the matches,” said Laura Sims.
‘But as well as that, each student got a point for his or her team for every €5 raised for the Stella Maris.”
School principal, John O’Loughlin congratulated all the students who took part.
“Projects like this are wonderful. They show a community spirit which is wonderful thing for a mercy school to have,” he said.