Kinsale Community School has taken first place in the prestigious Psychology Competition, Psych Slam, set up and run by the Applied Psychology Department at University College Cork. Psych Slam is an annual competition that involves students from schools across Munster competing in a Psychology Research Project and presenting their findings in front of a panel of judges, as well as other competing schools.
A selection of Kinsale Community School students attended an in-person training day for the event on Friday, 27th January 2023, where the students choose a topic relating to Psychology that intrigued them the most. They banded together and created a presentation on their chosen topic, including a PowerPoint, skits, and field research. The aim is to develop research skills, presentation skills and have a lot of fun. The KCS team chose the topic ‘Why do we share on social media?’
The team of six students attended the live competition event in UCC on Friday, the 24th of February and presented their research to a panel of judges and two other schools in the first heat of the competition. The team were successful in the heats and qualified to the top five finalist and competed again in the finals.
The Kinsale Community School team consisted of Rebecca Beecher, Lucy Kelleher, Aengus Price, Roise O’Donovan, Grace McCarthy, Sean Finnegan and Saoirse Hayes .
Janet Forrest, KCS Psych Slam Co-ordinator said "The transition year students who formed the Psych Slam team demonstrated their incredible teamwork skills, presentation skills and research skills to formulate this winning presentation. They had incredibly tough competition against some of the finest schools in Cork, but their hard work and effort paid off, leading them to victory. Psychology is an incredibly important and valuable subject and it's fantastic that the students get the opportunity to experience elements of Psychological research, as well as getting a taster of what University life is like, spending the day on the UCC campus. I'm incredibly proud of all of our students who were involved in this prestigious competition and they are a credit to their families and to KCS."
