A student of Clonmel’s High School has won a top prize in this year’s Young Scientists Exhibition.
The High School student, Stephen Casey, claimed the first prize for the best senior individual project in the physical, chemical, mathematical science category.
 The project was an analysis of the ‘four colour theorem’ for maps. For the non-scientifically minded among us this is the colour coding system we see on maps when different counties or states are shaded in different colours. Stephen’s project studied the distribution of the colours and their third dimensional expansion.
According to Stephen, a fifth year student from Park, Grange, Clonmel, the three-dimensional part of the project could be used in geological work.
The idea for the project came from conversations he had about the four colour theorem while he was taking part in the maths olympiad training last year. He found the subject very interesting and began working on it last October. Following weeks of work he then wrote up the project shortly before the Young Scientists Exhibition.According to science teacher, Bernadette O’Mahoney, who supported Stephen’s work, “he did a fantastic amount of work.”Stephen paid tribute to his teacher, who gave him a lot of support and help during the project.He was the only student from the High School to enter the competition this year, and to get to the exhibition was an achievement in itself.
Stephen says he was really shocked to win and hadn’t expected the prize.Miss O’Mahoney and members of his family joined Stephen in Dublin during the exhibition and were there to cheer him on when the awards were announced on Friday evening. Principal of the High School, Pat Power, described the student’s win as “a fantastic achievement for Stephen. We are all delighted and proud of how well he’s done. I’d also like to thank Miss O’Mahoney for all her work and support of Stephen.”
Taking part in the competition meant a lot of work for Stephen, but, he says, he is considering taking part again next year. |