a new dawn

Friday 25h Aug 2023...it was a special day.

Our Nathaniel smashed it!

You made us so so proud!

All of us!

Parents, grandparents, Teachers.

Took some greek wine to the School to Lorraine and David to thank them for all their mentoring and support!

St Munchins College is a GOOD SCHOOL, it builds strong ethos, probably the most valuable qualification in Life. Lorraine and David are sailing the School with such a talent and Art!

David's words to me on the day ("you kept the fire going") will stay with me, forever :)

Then, went to see Nathaniel and had a shot to celebrate (Passion fruit Absolut). 

And we listened together to the Carpe Diem extract (see below) and also to this song by Ella and Louis.

Δόξα τω Θεώ!

Υ.Γ.

Why do we need to talk about obesity?

from SMC Express, November 2021

According to the latest available data, Ireland has the second highest rate of obesity in EU, with more than a quarter of the adult population classified as such. A survey on weight by Eurostat found that 26 per cent of Irish adults were obese in 2019, well ahead of the EU average of 16 per cent and trailing only Malta, where the rate was 28 per cent. In a 2015 survey of World Health Organisation (WHO), by 2030, Europe will face an obesity crisis of “enormous proportions”. In terms of obesity alone, the estimates show a big jump for women in the Irish Republic, soaring from 23 per cent to 57 per cent. The proportion of obese Irish men was expected to increase from 26 per cent to 48 per cent.

The full article is here, page 1.

season review

The school and sports season draws to an end...
The month of May is traditionally the month of the Finals, the Cups and the revisions for school exams...

Summarising the season, there are two truly memorable days...

1. Thursday 26th April 2018 when 3 St Munchins Year 1 Boys won a SciFest prize

Darragh, Rory and Nathaniel (Right to Left) - smiley "Scientists to be"

and


2. Sunday 20th May 2018 when Corbally United's U12a squad won the Div 1 cup.

U12a Corbally United the Cup winners as picured in UL Sunday 20th May (the Mentors, the Boys, the smiles)

I am not not sure if one photo equals to 1000 words but these two photos are  millions of words for me :)


Well done, Boys and do not forget... to ...Carpe Diem !

Yannis


p.s.


Carpe Diem, Boys; make your Life extraordinary!

We are the world – We are the children

[my Dec 2017 article in the International Aquafeed] 

by Ioannis Zabetakis

 
From November 12-19, 2017, we celebrated what we call “Science Week” in Ireland, when hundreds of different workshops, tutorials, talks and experiments took place all around the country.
 

Ioannis Zabetakis

During that week, I was invited to visit schools and talk to the students – Scientists of Tomorrow about Science, Food, Diet and Nutrition.

Tuesday November 14, was an exceptional day; a day to remember! I was invited to go to the secondary school of one of my boys where I had (the honour and) the chance to talk and interact with Year One boys (i.e. 13 year old) on diet, nutrition, Science and "How to Live Well?”. Because at the end of the day, we need to remember that we are Scientists in order to improve our lives, to help people live with fewer diseases, less pain and live more happily.

At St Munchins College, boys were interactive, inquisitive and happy! Talking to them, teaching them about Diet and Food Pyramids (and some endemic mistakes there...) was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my teaching career so far. We compared the Mediterranean diet pyramid and the Irish food pyramids, we tried to identify what mistakes the Irish pyramid has and how we can correct them so we can pass to the Public correct dietary advice, we talked about Science, Health and Diet and so many other things that affect our Lives in a positive or a negative way.

We discussed about food, cooking, exercise, happiness, love, addictions. But above all, we had FUN!

Boys were buzzing non-stop and though this collaborative experience, we all learned some useful things. From now on, it is up to us to start implementing them. By making small changes in the way we eat and live, we can improve our Lives.

By thinking (Food) Science when we choose and prepare our food, the quality of our life can be improved and then we can more easily reach further out like the song “We are the World” suggests... A special "Thank you" to all the Teachers and the Boys in St Munchins for this beautiful day!

P.S.
We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving!







Read the full article in International Aquafeed magazine, HERE.

Allons enfants

I need to make a confession.
I love French! The language; the People; the Culture.

Last weekend, Nathaniel had to choose which second language he will follow towards Junior and Leaving Cert ; the choice was either French or German...

Last week, St Munchins college held a parents/students evening where we heard about all the options...At the end of the meeting, I went to speak to the language teachers...
I asked them about the support that the lads will get in French/German.
I decided to be a bit cheaky and told them: I do not want my son to learn a language that is only spoken in Germany...
The teacher's answer: It is also spoken in Lichtenstein, Switzerland and Austria.
 My response: whereas, if u know French, you can learn Spanish that is spoken in the whole Latin America...

I left them with a smile.

The smile became bigger last Monday morning when Nathaniel chose French!

The smile is huge today...when Nathaniel told me that at school today they talked about La Marseillaise

'La Marseillaise': 
Allons, enfants de la Patrie
Le jour de gloire est arrivé!
Contre nous, de la tyrannie
L'étendard sanglant est levé

Entendez-vous dans les campagnes
Mugir ces féroces soldats?
Ils viennent jusque dans nos bras
Égorger nos fils, nos compagnes!

Aux armes, citoyens!
Formez vos bataillons
Marchons, marchons!
Qu'un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons!

English translation:
Arise, children of the Fatherland
The day of glory has arrived
Against us tyranny's
Bloody banner is raised

Do you hear, in the countryside
The roar of those ferocious soldiers?
They're coming right into your arms
To cut the throats of your sons, your women!

To arms, citizens!
Form your battalions
Let's march, let's march
Let an impure blood
Water our furrows!

(Food) Science Week : We are the World - We are the Children

Tuesday 14th November was an exceptional day; a day to remember!
I was invited to go to the secondary school of one of my boys where I had (the honour and) the chance to talk and interact with year 1 boys on diet, nutrition, Science and " How to Live Well? ".

This activity was part of the Science Week where thousands of unique workshops, talks, tutorials etc take place all around Ireland.

At St Munchins College, boys were interactive, inquisitive and happy! Talking to them, teaching them about Diet and Food Pyramids (and some endemic mistakes there...) was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my teaching career so far.

We compared Med diet and Irish food pyramids, we talked about Science, Health and Diet and so many other things that affect our Lives in a positive or a negative way. We discussed about exercise, happiness, love, addictions.
But above all, we had FUN! 

Boys were buzzing non-stop and though this collaborative experience, we all learned some useful things.
From now on, it is up to us to start implementing them.
By making small changes in the way we eat and live, we can improve our Lives.
By thinking (Food) Science when we choose and prepare our food, our life quality can be improved and then we can more easily reach further out like the song suggests...

A special "Thank you" to all the Teachers and the Boys in St Munchins for this beautiful day!

(from a Dad)




We Are The World

Michael Jackson

There comes a time when we heed a certain call
When the world must come together as one
There are people dying
And it's time to lend a hand to life
The greatest gift of all

We can't go on pretending day by day
That someone, somehow will soon make a change
We are all a part of God's great big family
And the truth, you know
Love is all we need

We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So lets start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

Send them your heart so they'll know that someone cares
And their lives will be stronger and free
As God has shown us by turning stones to bread
So we all must lend a helping hand

We are the world, we are the children
We…

some thoughts on learning

Last week, I had the chance (and the duty as a father of a 12y old boy) to attend two open nights in two High Schools in Limerick (Ardscoil Ris -ASR- on Monday and St Munchins College - SMC), as part of the selection process to choose a High School for next year.

As a father and a teacher, I went to these two open nights with high expectations and mixed feelings. My main worry was: "will they talk to us about the feeling in the classroom?".

There was a huge difference between the two schools.

The first open night was a mere reference to the achievements of the school, without any information on the learning aspects of the school. There were marvelous slides, pretty pics of trophies, excellent bar charts on student performances comparing ASR to Irish average in a very long - and some times tiring - presentation. After more than an hour long presentation..., I walked around the school with my wife and our boy without guidance...I left the school with my question above completely unanswered....

The second open night was a joy to attend. We had also with us our younger boy (10y old). When we arrived, both boys were collected by SMC students and were guided around the school for all the time that SMC staff presented the school. All presentations have been uploaded on the school's website. Transparency at its greatest.
All talks were short, concise and most informative.
The one that touched my heart was the talk of Donal Madden who talked to us about the balance of joy and teaching, participation, the jersey, the fun and why he became a Teacher.
At the end of the talks, we met our boys who guided us around SMC and they described to us all the experiments in the labs!

Going back to my initial worry...
"will they talk to us about the feeling in the classroom?"
In SMC, they did and their students did ...by guiding our boys around the school before our boys guided us.
A night to remember!

P.S. In Academia, where learning is more important than teaching, sometimes (or most of the times?) learning is ignored...or is second-ranked to teaching.
Passing information is the boring part in the Universities...we need to blend it with other techniques, e.g. Problem based Learning.
Making our students happy in the lecture theater should be the top priority! Is it, though?
  
Yannis Zabetakis