Mr. Shane O'Connor:

The reputation of the young scientist exhibition follows itself through always. It is something that from first year we had the intention of doing, and then the freedom of transition year, TY, allowed us to pursue it thoroughly. That was one of the main reasons we decided to do it. It has been something we have been working on for the past three years. Once we got going and found out that we were quite good at this, we were able to keep going, and that kept us motivated and it keeps you to account. The young scientist exhibition was something that had always been on the horizon and that we had looked for since first year. In our experience - in my experience anyway - the tide is turning with apprenticeships, as the lads said. Many of our peers are looking towards apprenticeships as a viable approach, often more viable than other approaches, so, in my experience, apprenticeships are not stigmatised but are very much recognised for their real value.