Congratulations to Eva Kavanagh who reached the Final of the Bi-annual German Olympiad. Eva was the only student from Carlow in the Final. Ms Byrne was justifiably proud of her having had two students – Fiona Butler and Meadhbh Broderick in the Final in 2018. That year Meadhbh Broderick was the Winner and went on to represent Ireland against the rest of the world in Freiburg that Summer. This year it is very different. Rather than meeting the other 14 Finalists – Eva took part this week in an online discussion and interview. She got to meet the competitors and judges remotely and all through German. We are awaiting the results and wish her all the best. 

A German Zoom Final for Eva Kavanagh

Recently I took part in the German Olympiad. It is a language competition for Fourth and Fifth year students. It was a great experience for me. I learned so much about the time and effort it takes to come up with an original speech and I also learned so much about Germany as a country! On the day of the competition I zoom called the judges. There were two other students my age wishing to get to go to Germany just like myself! The judges began by asking us questions individually in German about ourselves and our hobbies etc. We then individually read out or speeches while the others listened to what we had to say. They ended the call by telling us that they would email back the following week to let us know the results. Unfortunately I did not win and get to represent Ireland in Germany, but I myself feel I have achieved something so amazing! I’m so glad that I got to experience this and honestly had so much fun writing it up and I can’t thank my teacher Ms Una Byrne enough for putting me forward to take part in this event and supporting me all the way. I enjoyed the whole experience so much and would definitely recommend it to Transition Year and Fifth Year students to take part in as it is a great learning experience with a great reward. The competition takes place every two years.