St Gerard's day 2016
“St Gerard’s, St Gerard’s, God bless the green and blue”
Gerard’s Day 2016 has come and gone. It was a fun and exciting day, where the entire school participated in activities together! It has been my third St Gerard's Day, and every year exceeds my expectations.
When I arrived at school on Wednesday I first ambled down to the sports hall for choir rehearsal. I really enjoy being in the choir as I love singing, especially with others who enjoy singing too! We did a run through of all the songs for Gerards Day Mass. Finally Mrs Olohan allowed us to go, however by this time we were at least 15 minutes late to the annual Quiz. This quiz can be described in one word: hilarious. The highlights of the quiz were the faceswap round, where we had to guess which teacher’s body was in the picture and which teacher’s face it was, and cluedo video made by Gavin Dowd. A few teachers were disguised as famous people in the sports industry, for example Mr Jennings was the French footballer Antoine Griezmann, Mrs Finane Griezmann’s girlfriend and Mr Kelly the Irish soccer coach Martin O’Neill! It was beyond amusing to witness our teachers acting in such a video! The gist of the video was that after some bad behaviour from Griezmann’s girlfriend, Laura, which included cheating on her boyfriend and doing so for a large sum of money, Laura was murdered. We, the students, had to guess who could be the murderer. I was in group 17, and we guessed that Antoine Griezmann was the murderer, but the odds were not in our favour as Martin O’Neill was guilty of Laura’s murder! I also thought the dancing challenge, lead by Ms Molloy was very entertaining! The quiz was fantastic, and very original.
When I arrived at school on Wednesday I first ambled down to the sports hall for choir rehearsal. I really enjoy being in the choir as I love singing, especially with others who enjoy singing too! We did a run through of all the songs for Gerards Day Mass. Finally Mrs Olohan allowed us to go, however by this time we were at least 15 minutes late to the annual Quiz. This quiz can be described in one word: hilarious. The highlights of the quiz were the faceswap round, where we had to guess which teacher’s body was in the picture and which teacher’s face it was, and cluedo video made by Gavin Dowd. A few teachers were disguised as famous people in the sports industry, for example Mr Jennings was the French footballer Antoine Griezmann, Mrs Finane Griezmann’s girlfriend and Mr Kelly the Irish soccer coach Martin O’Neill! It was beyond amusing to witness our teachers acting in such a video! The gist of the video was that after some bad behaviour from Griezmann’s girlfriend, Laura, which included cheating on her boyfriend and doing so for a large sum of money, Laura was murdered. We, the students, had to guess who could be the murderer. I was in group 17, and we guessed that Antoine Griezmann was the murderer, but the odds were not in our favour as Martin O’Neill was guilty of Laura’s murder! I also thought the dancing challenge, lead by Ms Molloy was very entertaining! The quiz was fantastic, and very original.
After our lunch I put on my hiking boots and prepared myself for the hike up, or I should say around, the Sugarloaf mountain. It is a tradition that the whole school makes the hike up either Djouce or the Sugarloaf on St Gerard’s day. On the bus I sat next to Emma. As we neared our destination we spied a big fire up on the mountain!
We were extremely lucky with the weather, thankfully the grey clouds above us did not release the rain they were retaining but the moved on elsewhere to release the moisture. This year we did a different walk to the previous year. As it was only my third Gerards Day, I didn’t have a large selection to compare this walk to. I clearly remember the first year I was in Gerards, we walked up the Djouce and from the start to the end of the walk it lashed rain. I must say, I really like walking out in the fresh air, it makes me feel more alive. Although I was tired by the time we had finished the walk, I greatly enjoyed the experience
We were extremely lucky with the weather, thankfully the grey clouds above us did not release the rain they were retaining but the moved on elsewhere to release the moisture. This year we did a different walk to the previous year. As it was only my third Gerards Day, I didn’t have a large selection to compare this walk to. I clearly remember the first year I was in Gerards, we walked up the Djouce and from the start to the end of the walk it lashed rain. I must say, I really like walking out in the fresh air, it makes me feel more alive. Although I was tired by the time we had finished the walk, I greatly enjoyed the experience
Later that day I arrived at school for our final choir rehearsal before the performance at the Mass. We quickly went over the complicated harmonies and the less-practiced songs. Soon the entire sports hall was filled with students, staff and parents for the St Gerard’s Day Mass. The theme for the Mass this year would be ‘Wisdom, mind and heart’. I thought this was a wonderful theme as it really reflected what our school is all about. I remember when I first visited the school my parents and I were greatly impressed. When my parents found out our school ethos was ‘Memor’ they immediately said this was the right school! The Mass went very well, and I enjoyed it. There were some beautiful solos by Anabel who sang the responsorial psalm and by Lily Kate, Amy and Abbie, who sang ‘The Rose’. It was heart-warming to see all the students proudly sing the school song by Phil Collins together as one!
Then, once the Mass had finished, all the sixth class students, including my sister went to have a céili and the parents had a reception in the canteen, therefore the senior students had the sports hall to themselves. First we watched an amazing video of the Zambia trip last year’s sixth years experienced. It looks like a trip that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. The long-awaited slideshow by Mr Kelly of all the funny and embarrassing pictures of students throughout the school year was fantastic! Some of the pictures were truly hilarious! The whole hall was filled with laughter and smiles.
As you can see, it has been another great St Gerard’s Day with lots of fun, laughter, music, beautiful views and worthwhile experiences.
As you can see, it has been another great St Gerard’s Day with lots of fun, laughter, music, beautiful views and worthwhile experiences.