Hazelwood College

Senior Football County Final

Hazelwood College received a visit from the Dromcollogher-Broadford GAA team, who recently defeated Monaleen in the Senior Football County Final. The team, which included a number of past pupils was made feel at home in the course of their visit, catching up with former teachers as well as fans and family. Pictured are back row (left to right): Seamus Lordan, Chairman of Drom-Broadford GAA Club, Bob Boyce, Brian Noonan, Pat Donnelly, Gearóid Greaney, Killian Fahy, Derry McCarthy and Mike Fahy. Front Row left to right: Seanie Buckley, Niall O’Brien, Micheal Reidy, Timmy O’Connor, Paul Madigan, Mike Buckley, Garth Meaney and Mr Tom Halpin Head of Sport at Hazelwood College.

Halloween Hell

Hazelwood College Leaving Certificate Applied students, in costume staged a ‘Halloween Hell’ event in Hazelwood College, for First Year students. The event was staged as part of their General Education Task and is linked to their studies in Drama encouraging students’ independent learning and teamwork skills.

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Organic College

Some pictures from the recent Leaving Certificate Applied visit to An tIonad Glas the Organic College in Dromcollogher

Picture 1: Hazelwood College LCA1 students (from left to right) Charles Butler. Kevin Daly, Kevin Moore, Aodan Brennan, John Larkin, Kevin O Connor and Steven Dunleavy receieve information on the propagation of strawberries from Della Collins on a recent visit to An tIonad Glas as part of their Ecology studies.

Picture 2: Hazelwood College LCA1 students Sean McCarthy and Declan McDonnell on a recent visit to An tIonad Glas for a key assignment on Ecology.

Picture 3: Hazelwood College students Caitriona O Sullivan, Ciaran O Sullivan and Shaun Shannon with their strawberry plants at a recent visit to An tIonad Glas where they combined Food Studies with Ecology.

Picture 4: Hazelwood College students Charles Butler, Rebecca Roche & Caitriona O Sullivan are pictured appropriately in front of the hazel tree on a recent visit to our local Organic College, An tIonad Glas, during which they learned about growing fresh environmentally friendly food.

Holocaust Survivor Bears Witness at Hazelwood College

Holocaust survivor Tomi Reichental visited Hazelwood College last week and spoke to History students about his experiences of growing up in Slovakia in the 1930s and of enduring life in the concentration camp at Bergen Belsen. Throughout the ninety minute talk, Tomi spoke of the horrors that he had witnessed, the loss of forty of his relatives, the disrespectful burial of his grandmother’s corpse and the betrayal of members of his family by those they had live alongside and been friends with. Despite this and the horrors he witnessed firsthand as a child, Tomi also spoke at length about the courage and bravery of those who attempted to shelter him, including the local parish priest, who treated Tomi’s family and other Jewish families with respect. Tomi inspired awe in how he described his mother’s determination to get both Tomi and his brother Nicholas through their ordeal.

Students heard of vile crimes of the Nazis and those who collaborated with them, but also of Tomi’s father who escaped from a moving train and how he came to live in Ireland. While Tomi’s talk concerned the past, his message for students was directed towards the future. He warned them about the dangers of using scapegoats and about the importance of tolerance and the dignity of the individual, while his own story since 1945 suggested that even in the worst of circumstances, it is possible to find a way to have a happy life again.

Hazelwood Athletes Cut a Dash on National Athletics Stage

The Munster Schools Combined Events Championship were held in the Nenagh Indoor Athletics Stadium on Wednesday last the October 16th. Hazelwood College had 4 representatives competing in the event. Eimear Lenihan competed in the Junior Girls’ Competition. She had a solid run over the hurdles and jumped personal bests in the long jump 4.47m and high jump 1.30m. Going into the final 2 events, Eimear was still outside qualification. But she really shone in the last 2 events, winning the shot putt with a throw of 9.79 m and winning the 800m with a 100m gap from second place in a time of 2min 30sec, to clinch fourth place and qualify for the national finals.

Kevin O Leary got off to a magnificent start in the Junior Boys’ Competition with his hurdles, finishing in a personal best time, just getting piped at the line for second place. He went on to set personal bests in all of the 5 events jumping 4.56m in the long jump, throwing 6.90m and running 28 seconds in the 200m. However, his biggest improvement was in the final event, the 800m, taking 20seconds off his time to come fourth. In a very competitive field, with almost 40 athletes from across Munster competing, Kevin did fantastic to come in in fourteenth place overall.
We had two girls competing in the Inter-Girls’ Competition, Allison Healy and Laoise Bennis. Both girls competed superbly, having solid runs over the hurdles to come fourth and third respectively. Both girls jumped personal bests in the long jump, Allison jumping 4.22m and Laoise Jumping 4.20m. Laoise then went on to win the high jump with a jump of 1.50m on her first attempt. Both girls had impressive throws in the shot putt and both finished strong in the 800m with personal bests in each event. By the end of the day their hard work earned them enough points for Laoise to get third place and Allison fourth place. This guaranteed them qualification for the National Finals in Athlone IT Indoor Stadium on the November 16th.

It is worth noting that the 2 girls are the first girls to ever qualify for the Schools Multi-Events Finals from Hazelwood College, considering this along with all the other fantastic performances so early in the year, 2014 looks to be a good year for Hazelwood College Athletics.

All-Ireland Handball Success

All-Ireland Success on the Double: Hazelwood College students are congratulated here by Hazelwood College Head of Sport, Mr Tom Halpin, for their recent success in the All-Ireland Handball finals. Pictured here are (left to right) Shane Murphy, Evan Murphy, Mr Halpin and Katie McCarthy. Absent from picture is Laura Stack, Katie’s Handball Doubles partner.

Munster Group Senior Ladies’ Football Win

Caroline Stapleton, Captain of Ursulines Thurles Senior Ladies Football team. Kevin O’Brien the referee and Aishling McCarthy, Captain of the Hazelwood College Senior Ladies Football team before the kick off of their Munster Group Senior Ladies’ Football game. Aishling led the team to a great victory with a scoreline of Hazelwood 6-13 to Ursulines 1-9.

TY Challenges Torc Mountain

Transition Year students recently undertook the challenge of climbing Torc Mountain in Killarney in County Kerry.

The four hour walk took the students from the base of the Waterfall at Torc in Killarney to the top of Top Mountain, a 5km climb of 535m (1755ft) in just over 2.5 hours. The walk took the steep tourist climb from the base of the waterfall to the top of the waterfall. They followed the Old Kenmare Road between Torc and Mangerton mountains it the reached the south face of Torc. From there it was a trek along the OPW constructed trail to the top where a fantastic 360′ panoramic view was to seen on what was a cold but clear day. In the artic wind it was a chilly 4’C at the top.

Picture a: Hazelwood College Transition Year Programme students participated in a hill walking event on Thursday 10th October last as part Mental Health Week.
Picture b: Cliodhna O’Keeffe and Shaye McNally, Hazelwood College students who participated in a four hour hill walking event from Torc Waterfall to the Old Kenmare Road and on to the peak at 535m as part of Mental Health Week.
Picture c: Cliodhna O’Keeffe and Megan Crowley, Hazelwood College students take the road together in the hill walking event as part of Mental Health Week.
Picture d: Liam O’Connor (background) Cian Larkin. Back Row (left to right) Albert Fenton, Saoirse Murray, Kate Farrissey, Niamh Enright, Janice Reidy and Megan Roberts.Front Row Left to right Paul Kirwan, Mary Cussen, Aaron Walsh, Clare Sweeney and Lea Dokter
Picture e: Lean on Me: Cathal Murphy, Saoirse Murray, Kate Farrissey and Paul Kirwan, all Hazelwood College TYP students on their recent hill walking adventure.
Picture f: Taking a breather: TYP students at Hazelwood College take a moment to enjoy the view and bond on their recent hill walking event around Torc Waterfall as part of Mental Health Week. Pictured are (left to right) Aaron Walsh, Paul Kirwan, Mary Cussen, Saoirse Murray, Kate Farrissey, Niamh Enright, Cathal Murphy and Sarah Lynch (with Bella)
Picture g: Getting Away From It All: TYP students at Torc Waterfall in the course of their hill walking event. The event was organised as part of Mental Health Week in order to encourage students to become more active and therefore enjoy the benefits of both good mental and physical health.
Picture h: Fanning out! Hazelwood College staff and students on their recent hill walking event near Torc Waterfall. Pictured are (left to right) Mr Matt Finn, Liam O’Connor, Ciaran Murphy, Paul McMahon, Megan Fitzgibbon, Sarah Shanahan, Tara Fitzgibbon, Sarah Tachoua, Isabelle Haggar and Maria Cremin.
Picture i: Sunny South West! Hazelwood College students enjoy the sun while on their recent hill walking event near Torc Waterfall. The event was organised to highlight the benefits to mental health from physical exercise. Pictured are (left to right) Tara Fitzgibbon, Megan Fitzgibbon, Maria Cremin, Laoise Bennis, Albert Fenton, Isabelle Haggar, Sarah Shanahan, Paul McMahon, Cian Larkin and Ciaran Murphy. Back Row (left to right) Liam O’Connor, Simon Donegan, Glen McNamara, Matthew Daly and Owen Cunningham.
Picture j: Back to Nature! Hazelwood College students (left to right) Ellen Condon, Ali Purcell, Cathal Murphy, Ryan O’Gorman and Cathal Walsh while out hill walking as part of mental health week
Picture k: Cool But Sunny! Hazelwood College students (left to right) Magdalena Winkler, John Ahern, Sean Brosnan, Emma Sheehan, Liam O’Connor, Azara Collins and Ellie Stone enjoying the cool but sunny conditions as they participate in hill walking in order to enjoy both a healthy body and a healthy mind during mental health week.
Picture l: On top of the world! Students and staff from Hazelwood College enjoy the sights after completing their hill walking challenge as part of events organised for Mental Health Week.
Picture m: Surrounded by Splendor! Ms Edel Murphy and Liam O’Connor TYP of Hazelwood College enjoy the sights while hill walking recently The TYP students went hill walking as part of Mental Health Week

An tIonad Glas Visit

Leaving Certificate Applied 1 students recently visited An-tIonad Glas the Organic College in Dromcollogher.

While there students learned about the FETAC courses available in the college. They also tries the hands at a some gardening, cultivating and most importantly tasting of quality organic produce.

For more information about the college visit

Cheerios Breakfast Morning

Hazelwood College 1 B students took part in the Cheerios Breakfast Morning in support of Childline. Students raised money in order to help continue funding Childline, which helps so many children facing difficulties every year.

The students who took part in this project were Back row (left to right) Debbie Lynch, Abbie McDermott, Sophie Murphy, Orla Hennessey, Meabh McCarthy, Jack Mullane, Ava Mullane and Shannon Mason.

Front row (left to right) Ryan Gammell, Lorna Mulqueen, Ciara O’Callaghan, Edmund O’Connor, Cory Knipe, Jack McCarthy, Amy Murphy, Ethan Knipe, Molly kirwan, Christopher Hartnett, Samantha O’Dea , Jack Mullane , Colm McMahon, Millie Mulcay, Blahtheen Matthews and Shauna Hartnett.