Leaving Cert relief as Irish aural section ‘did not have a Donegal accent’

Seventeen is relatively young to be doing the Leaving Cert but I think it has made me mature faster.

Covid-19 and transition year (TY) helped me to grow up, too. We missed so much of TY because of school closures, and I realised I hadn’t really done anything big with my life so far.

I live in an apartment complex on St Stephen’s Green so during Covid, everything was around me. It’s part of a council estate, and everyone looks out for each other here. We took to doing balcony bingo three times a week and I started to get more interested in the world around me.

In school, I started a global citizenship theme where we focus on human rights, social justice and the other UN Millenium Development Goals. Part of this is a podcast that I produce and host, C’mere And I Tell Ya, where we’ve interviewed Fr Peter McVerry, Senator Lynn Ruane and others, and we’ve looked at issues like homelessness and the challenges facing refugees and asylum seekers in Ireland.

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Our school is an ETB in partnership with Educate Together, and I’m on the student advisory council for Educate Together. I’ve also helped put together the school yearbook. So between all of this, the exams and my part-time job – I work in a shoe shop on Grafton Street – I have been kept busy.

The past week has gone so much better than I thought it would. I was only a little stressed and I knew so much more than I thought. So far, so good, and I feel confident in what I wrote.

On Monday, maths paper two had a lot of probability and trigonometry. Irish was great as the listening [aural section] did not have a Donegal accent. The essay did not go in my favour as the topics were limited, but I did the essay on the drug problem in my area. I had prepared the housing crisis as an essay so I could link that in.

Beyond these exams, I think I’d be interested in journalism. I did my work experience in Newstalk and enjoyed it, so I hope that the one-year Post Leaving Certificate course I’ve applied for – media and journalism at Ballyfermot College – will help me see what it would be like before I commit to a four-year degree course.

I do feel that it’s important my generation is heard, and that we will be the ones to bring about change. Climate change is something my generation will probably fix, and I hope that Ireland becomes somewhere where we have a chance of affording a home.

I think young people’s voices are not really listened to and, when we are asked, it can often feel tokenistic, so maybe journalism can help bring about the change we need.