TY Assembly - Resilience

"Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it.” — Charles Swindoll

On Wednesday, 10th March 2021, spirits were undoubtedly high amongst teachers and TY students of Loreto Balbriggan as we were reunited “together but apart”. Unfortunately, due to the ongoing issue of COVID-19, we as a year group couldn’t be face to face. Having to adapt to our current circumstances, a zoom call with up to 220 attendees took place. The main agenda of the event was to appreciate the work undertaken by the TY prefects and vice-prefects. 

As the assembly commenced, a presentation organised by the TY prefects - was displayed to the year group. It broke down the entire process of creating the badge, going back to the primitive stages of coming up with the fundamental core. Several themes and tag lines were deliberated over by students and their form class - in the early months of the year. A poll was generated for TYs to vote their favourite out of the contributed suggestions. Ultimately, the winning theme was ‘Resilience’ along with the tagline ‘Still I Rise.’ The selected tagline was a tribute to Mary Angelou’s influential poem of the same name. 

As an integral part of the process was checked off the list, the prefects operated closely together to settle on the badge’s image, design, and colour scheme. Their various meetings evidently paid off, as we were all pleasantly greeted by the final result in the post.

Here, we must give credit to the amazing Pat Murphy for his patience and creativity in liaising with class prefects and teachers during the process. A very big thank you to our TY team who always have our best interests at heart. This was truly displayed in the reassuring and comforting message each student received (along with an equally welcome chocolate bar). This random act of kindness does not fall short in describing who we are in Loreto Balbriggan.

Led by the TY team, we virtually put on the badge as gratification was very much present within the pride to be part of such a wonderful group.  If this wasn’t enough to lift our spirits, we were informed of an excellent opportunity to participate in a ‘Cyber Security course’ on the 16th of March and a ‘Pizza Masterclass’  on the 18th of March where students may show off their culinary skills and possibly put their inner creativity to use with some twists and turns made in the creations! 

Subsequently, the year group seized the super opportunity to hear from a past pupil. Rachael Moore graciously informed us a little about her background as a social worker, using her large selection of skills as a tremendously useful asset in delivering a powerful message. Rachel works with people that need her advice and counselling daily. She cannot endeavor to show any signs of irritability. 

Instead, Rachel applies constructive elements in overcoming the negative feelings that cloud her mind. These include: focusing on the here and now, pointing out three positive things that she is grateful for in her life, exercise, listening to music, staying in contact with her friends, and emphasising her self-care. 

Based on feedback from the voices of our year, we discovered that the girls found it very inspiring and easy to relate to a past student who is a living example of a hard worker and shows what you can achieve - when you put your mind to work. Rest assured that this will be useful to the TY class of 2021.

In conclusion, Wednesday morning was a significant day in the TY calendar and certainly a positive eye-opener to many. Undergoing a routine prevents the slump that we all have succumbed to time and time again during lockdown. The most significant component of what Rachel addressed was that having repeated drawbacks into melancholy will aggravate over time. Now more than ever do we need to reign in our frustrations. To be resilient and weather the storms that life has blown in our direction.

Remember, ‘your attitude, not your aptitude will determine your altitude’. Continue to strive within these times. 

We hope you got a taste of the wonderful morning we all had on Wednesday!

Written by Leah Brady and Adriana Ciot