This year The Rotary Club of Belfast were invited to co-ordinate the Selection process and host one of the Regional finals to select 3 of the 24 finalists to represent Rotary at the Euroscola sitting in Strasbourg on the 12 February 2010. Eight host clubs were nominated to hold regional finals Belfast, Cookstown, Carrickfergus, Dublin Viking, Galway, Glanmire, Navan and Waterford.
The Belfast region consisted of Bangor, Belfast East, Belfast West, Comber, Donaghadee, Newry, Newtownards, and Belfast itself. Each Club was invited to approach a number of schools in their locality and conduct initial interviews with nominated students. Students aged 16-18years of age were asked to submit standard application forms, which illustrated their personal achievements to date, their work experience, leadership experience and examples of their planning and organisation skills. The participating Clubs each selected a finalist who was nominated to attend the Regional Final in the Europa Hotel Belfast on 7 December 2009.
This year the Competition was once again well supported by participating Belfast schools with Methodist College, Knockbreda High School, RBAI, St Louise’s, St Mary’s Christian Brothers , Victoria College invited to participate. 24 pupils were interviewed and on behalf of the Club we would like to thank all those Rotarians who assisted in this process and gave willingly of their time to carry out interviews. The competition would not be possible without their support. The schools are all enthusiastic advocates of the competition and well-aware of the benefits to the students of both taking part and achieving success. They appreciate the way that the competition teaches interview skills, builds self-confidence and raises awareness of European Political and Policy issues.
Seven finalists were presented to the Regional selection panel who consisted of Dame Ingrid Allen, Mr Don Anderson and Mrs Doris Houston. We are greatly indebted to them and thank them for their valuable time and expertise. The standard of applicant was outstanding and Chairman Anderson congratulated the quality and ability of the finalists and said that it was a very difficult decision to have to differentiate and decide the winners for this Region.
Our Club winner was Charlotte Higgins, Methodist College and to our delight she succeeded in winning a coveted finalist’s place. We look forward to welcoming Charlotte back to our Club to hear her account of the trip.
The 3 nominated finalists are:
o Charlotte Higgins, Methodist College, nominated by Belfast Club o John Devlin, St Colman’s College, Newry, nominated by Newry Club o Kerri Stevenson, Down High School, nominated by Comber Club
The winning journey will follow a similar pattern to the trip last year, the 24 finalists meeting for the first time in Belfast to learn about the government and culture in Northern Ireland, then travel to Dublin to learn about the Government and culture in the Republic, before setting off on 11 February via Paris to Strasbourg to debate and present our motions at Euroscala.
The Euroscola day is hosted 20 times a year by the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Around 500 young people from across the EU take part in a day of presentations, questions, discussions and voting on issues relevant to them. The day is led by officials of the Parliament and is structured to ensure all young people participate to the full. It is a prestigious event with the young people being treated very much as MEPs as they sit in the main debating chamber, have the opportunity to ask questions of Parliament representatives and use electronic voting. At the end of the day, each participant receives a certificate of attendance signed by the President of the European Parliament.
Belfast Heritage Competition
This year we have expanded our Youth Programme and entered into a joint venture with the Belfast Buildings Preservation Trust. The BBPT is a totally voluntary charity established to restore historic buildings in Belfast and bring them back into use. Completed projects include St. Patrick’s School, Donegall Street and the Christ Church Centre of Excellence at Belfast Inst.
An essay competition with the theme ‘Why Belfast’s Heritage Matters’ was held, involving local schoolchildren, with the purpose of raising awareness of the importance of historic buildings in the environment. The prizes were provided by the Belfast Buildings Preservation Trust and included money, digital cameras and work experience in a conservation architect’s office.
The worthy prizewinner, appropriately, was Ian Boyd from Belfast Inst.
Interact Club
The Club is hoping to form a new Interact Club.