A national Showcase of Young Social Innovators takes place in May each year where thousands of young social innovators come together and showcase their projects.
YSI gives everybody an opportunity to use their creativity to respond to social issues and contribute to a fairer, more caring and equal society. YSI aims to empower and support young people to realise their potential as social innovators and to give them the skills and confidence to tackle the social issues facing them, their communities and wider society.
The Manor House TY YSI team has chosen to tackle the social issue of equality. The team is specifically concerned with women’s rights and the empowerment of girls in our school and wider community.
The girls held a disco in the gym for 1st year students in November. This was called ‘On Wednesdays We Wear Pink’. The team also organised two cake sales to help fundraise for the project.
The team is running ‘Empowering Women’s Week’ from 1 to 5 February. A lot of exciting events have been planned, under the guidance of Ms Flynn.
EMPOWERING WOMEN WEEK
On Monday, 1 February, the Irish entrepreneur and the producer and co-founder of Riverdance, Moya Doherty visited the TY students. Moya is a past pupil of Manor House. It was an honour to have such an esteemed woman visit us. She showed us her video, "The Rhythm of Life"
On Tuesday, 2 February, there was be a quiz for 2nd year students. The theme of the quiz was ‘Inspirational Women’.
On Tuesday evening, students took part in a walk called ‘Take back the Night’. We hoped that this wouldl raise awareness and help girls in our community to understand that if we stand together we can feel safe at night. We met outside the school at 7pm and went for a short walk around Watermill road. Refreshments were served afterwards in the cafeteria.
On Friday, 3 February, Paralympic swimmer, Ellen Keane, spoke to 5th year students about her experiences in training and the Paralympics.
There was a film for 1st years on Friday afternoon.
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The team is currently working on a range of inspiring and inspirational posters. The students hope to place these posters around the school. The team wants each and every student to be reminded every day of how beautiful and strong they are.
Wrist bands will be sold and all proceeds from sales and events during ‘Empowering Women’s Week’ go to the Rape Prevention Crisis Centre.