Cobh YMCA students scoop prize at TechFest awards at Google HQ

Many congratulations to Cobh YMCA Techspace who were recently honoured at the Creative Tech Fest Awards 2014 winning the Best Video (Over 16’s) for ‘THE DECISION’.

‘The Decision’ was made to put spotlight on peer pressure and drugs. As part of their Teamwork studies and participation in the TechSpace in Cobh YMCA, students decided to examine that moment when a decision is made whether to take drugs or not. They wanted to focus on a real situation where a young person would come under gentle or severe pressure to participate. The pressure is both real and amplified by their own presumptions, expectations and battles against their own feelings, judgement and other influences.

As part of the process they interviewed Gemma, the local Drugs and Alcohol project worker and invited Narcotics Anonymous to give a talk. The film focusses on cannabis use, a perceived soft drug, but one identified by all as being all the more dangerous for its reputation as being ‘soft’. The students wrote, produced and edited the film entirely themselves with support from their Techspace educator and mentors James Bilson and Kate Damery. Pictured below receiving the award at Google’s European Headquarters in Dublin are student Thomas Sheehan and James Bilson of Cobh YMCA.

Creative Tech Fest Awards 2014 also featured a STEM technology exhibition and talks from Ireland’s Mars Astronaut hopeful Joseph Roche and RTE’s Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin. For more info on TechSpace in Cobh email cobhadmin@ymca-ireland.net

 The DECISION is online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6L34s-Nfew