Youth Service students secure Best Display category award for their Fairy Garden project

A lively quintet of young people from Ronanstown Youth Service (RYS) Crosscare in Clondalkin recently won a ‘Best Display’ category award for their whimsical ‘Fairy Garden’ project through the Young Environmentalist Awards (YEA), reports Avery Lin.

Sixth-class students at St Peter the Apostle JNS, the group developed the project with ECO-Unesco mentor Kayleigh Harris every other Monday from October as part of their weekly youth centre activities.

Originating from their own interest expressed during an initial consultation, the project involved designing and building an amenable outdoor space for the enjoyment of other youth, staff members and the public.

Specifically, the students successfully transformed a green area at the back of the centre into a colourful and sustainable oasis boasting an abundance of springtime flowers alongside a curation of mini handcrafted adornments.

Each year, ECO-Unesco’s YEA programme recognises young people’s projects that help to improve the environment and raise environmental awareness. Junior and senior awards are distributed across the ten categories alongside a handful of additional awards, including for ‘Best Display’.

In line with the programme’s criteria and with ECO-Unesco’s goals, the Fairy Garden project helped to promote biodiversity by attracting insects to the urban community and thus enriching the local landscape.

The young people were additionally supported by their regular youth worker mentors Laura Clarke and Martina Byrne.

During the semi-finals, the group pitched their project before a judging panel and after its selection for the finals, created the award-winning display, which presented a miniature version of the Fairy Garden.

They received their award at the May 26 ceremony held at the Convention Centre in Dublin in tandem with the YEA gala where the display was showcased.

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