Kildare students win social innovation award
Members of the team from Scoil Dara, Kilcock, who won the Fun Raising award for their ‘Catch a Cubbie’ project Photo: Marc O’Sullivan.
THE future change-makers from Kildare were celebrated at the recent 2025 national Young Social Innovators (YSI) Awards for their outstanding YSI projects that tackle important social issues such as additional classroom needs, and bee conservation and biodiversity.
St Paul’s Secondary School in Monasterevin and Scoil Dara, Kilcock took part in the YSI programme and were among 42 teams from across Ireland shortlisted for the 2025 Awards.
Scoil Dara, Kilcock, won the Fun Raising Award for their ‘Catch a Cubbie’ project, which saw them acquire a ‘Cubbie’, which provides a calming environment for students with additional needs to remove themselves from the classroom situation and regulate their emotions and physical responses.
St Paul's Secondary School, Monasterevin had been shortlisted ‘BEE the Change’ project which focuses on bee conservation and biodiversity, and saw the team host fundraising events for materials to construct bee houses, as well as creating bee houses for their community.
The awards were presented award at a special ceremony recently in the Aviva Stadium.
CEO of YSI, Roger Warnock, said: “The cutting-edge social issues being addressed in the projects shortlisted for the 2025 YSI Awards, including from Kildare, and the young people’s commitment to finding solutions demonstrates how important social innovation education is for empowering our young people.”
