Mark Pollock

Mark Pollock was born in 1976 in Northern Ireland. When he was five years old, he lost all sight in his right eye, for the rest of his childhood  he began attempting to avoid rough team sports to try preserve the vision in his left eye.  He studied Business and Economics in Trinity College, Dublin. He was also a very good rower and represented Northern Ireland and won two medals in the Common Wealth Games.At the age of 22 he became completely blind. Hes retinas had de-tached.
2 years ago he fell from a 2 story window and fractured his skull,his lungs were bleeding and his spine was broken in two places.He couldn't feel anything from the stomach down. He told us the three most important things in life were to be brave,different and ambitious. In 2008 he raced to the north pole. The race began on the 4th of Januruary with the temperature at - 45 degrees. He came fifth overall

The Witness Review

''Witness'' was directed by Peter Weir in 1985. Harrison Ford plays the character as a ''city cop''. Samuel the young boy comes from an amish civilization. He and his mother are coming to Baltemore for the first time leaving there rural life to visit her sister. As they are waiting at the train station Samuel wanders off and witnesses McFee murdering another police officer  inside the bathroooms. Harrisons character is called John Buck. He questions Samuel and brings him around town showing him crooks his taken from bars and asks if that was the man he saw. When John brings Samuel into the police station he sees a display case of McFee and recognizes Mcfee as the killer. This leads onto John getting fired and McFee chasing Samuel,John and Samuel's mother Rachel.It is a thrilling movie with alot of suspense.

 

On tuesday the 25th we had our 3rd lecture. A man called Denis Sexton came into us to raise awarness about autisim in Irealnd.Autisim effect 1 in 100 people in Ireland. For every foour boys -effected one girl is. Denis son John is has severe autisim.

Earthquakes on Prezi

Diary Entry: Lecture 1

On the 11th of September we had our first lecture. The lecturer was a survivor of the Holocaust. His name was Zoltan Collis. The lecture was an hour long and everything he said was interesting. I believe it was a great way of understanding the true hardship that the Jewish people went through. It was also alot more interesting than a history book!! It was clear he found it hard to share his experiences.He told it very well. I could tell that he had done this alot before. We watched a gruesome video of how the Jewish people were treated and how the bodies were disposed of. This lecture was my first proper lecture and i was very impressed and intrigued to learn about Zoltan Collis. There are 3 Irish survivor of the Holocaust. 12 million people were killed in concentration camps. Zoltan lived in Eastern Slovakia He had 4 children. His father was Jewish. A Nazi officer came to his house and with a piece of paper saying his mother and fathers marriage was a mistake as his father was Jewish. It said the family could go free and live there lives and there Zoltans father would be taken away. Zoltan's mother refused to sign it. His family came together and had a family meeting. They decided to send Zoltan's father into hiding for the year 1944/1945. He ran out of food and clean clothes and went to a bar. He was spotted and reported. The whole family was taken away They were put on a 36 hour train journey to a concentration camp. They went 18 hours without a stop on the train. Many old people died because of the lack of space. After 18 hours they got a break The Nazis shot 3 women for no reason. They got back on the train This was the last time Zoltan saw his father. There were 12 extermination camps and 300 permanent camps. They were told that they were going for a shower. Up to 500 people were crammed into a small room with a small opening at the top of the roof. The Germans poured in poison and within 10 minutes they were all dead. Zoltan was moved to a camp near Hamburg. The SS men were arrogant and cold blooded. 1.1 million were murderd in Auschwitz 6 million Jewish people and 6 million criminals,homosexuals,blacks,trade unionists and communists were killed.

Trip to Aran Islands

On the 3rd of September a group of 60 students set off from St.Andrews College to the Aran Islands. The trip consisted of a 3 and a half hour bus journey and a 45 minute ferry. We left the school at 7:20 sharp so that we would make this ferry on time. The ferry was very choppy on the way out as there was a storm around the island.When we arrived we dropped our bags off at the youth hostel and went on a walk around the island. We visited the smallest recorded church in Europe and a Memorial for all the people who drowned in the nearby sea. We also visited Dun Aonghasa. It was a beautiful day so we could see right across the Atlantic ocean. It was very exciting being so close to the cliff edge. We woke up at 8 the next morning and had breafast. We were told that we were going to go on a 6 hour bike ride. Some of us were not happy ! But it was worth it in the end. The sky was clear so we could see right across the islands. This was the highlight of the trip for me. The next day we left our youth hostel and had an hour to spend before taking the ferry back to Galway. The trip was a great experience and gave me a true insight of Irish culture.