Junior Mayors and Climate Action Awards ‘give a voice to students’

By Rebekah O'Reilly

Mayor of Athlone Cllr Frankie Keena welcomed 21 Junior Mayors from primary and secondary schools across Westmeath to the council chamber in Athlone's Civic Centre on Wednesday, December 11.

The meeting was part of the Junior Mayor Initiative which seeks to give a voice to students, and which has gone from strength to strength since it began seven years ago.

The event also saw the launch of the Arcadia Creative Climate Awards, which is set to take place in April 2025.

"The whole idea is to give young people a voice," Cllr Keena said.

When asked why the scheme is important in schools, students emphasised that they need to be able to voice their concerns.

"We need to be seen equally as people, the same as adults," said one student. Another added: "We need to share issues that are going on in school."

Schools represented at the event included St Mary's NS, Ardnagrath NS, Mount Temple NS, Clonbonny NS, Coosan NS, Milltown NS, St. Oliver Plunkett Boys NS, Baylin NS, Ballinahown NS, Cornamaddy CNS, Scoil Na gCeithre Maistri, Moate Community School, Marist College, Our Lady's Bower, Mullingar Community College, and Athlone Community College.

Between 60 to 70 students were in attendance, including members of the Student Councils, and those involved in the Green Schools initiative.

Arcadia Retail Park Director Fiachra McLoughlin launched the Arcadia Climate Action Awards, highlighting how it has evolved to better support efforts made by schools.

"Schools are busy places, we don't want to put extra pressure on them," said Fiachra. "In previous years we have tried to do as as a competition format. Last year we made a switch to more of an exhibition - because it's actually really hard to judge between such a wide variety of projects."

Projects included websites, surveys, green projects, and circular economy projects - and the showcase in the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) in Athlone affords students the opportunity to share their tremendous work with parents, students from other schools, and university students and lecturers.

"The initiative split between the primary skills and the secondary skills. The idea is that in primary school you're already doing a lot of work around the climate, whether it's biodiversity, waste management, various green issues. The ACCA awards give you a chance now to showcase that work," he said.

"For the secondary schools, there's an exhibition on the same day, and again, it's nice to see students from the secondary schools go and chat to the national school kids. With the secondary school students, there's more guidance around what the project is, it's more thinking about the future."

Biodiversity Officer Christina Sweeney, and Climate Action graduate Hannah Gillivan, were also present at the event. They spoke to students about different projects undertaken by Westmeath County Council to encourage biodiversity, including the Barn Owl Project, which saw TY students building boxes for owls, and an initiative which studied the migration habits of Sand Martins in the Midlands.

The Biodiversity Officer also introduced the idea of a new Biodiversity Forum which would enable students to come together and get more involved in climate issues.

The event concluded with food and refreshments, and a rapid fire quiz on all things climate and biodiversity.

"We used to have to fight to have our voices heard," said Arcadia Retail Park Facilities Manager Morgan Fagg.

"These kids now have a seat at the table - I mean they are literally eating their chicken nuggets and chips at the table." he laughed, referring to the students who were gathered around the council's formal meeting table.