TY students recount their recent Work Experience

Emma O'Brien (TY) writes about what happened on her work experience. "I decided to do my work placement at Frontline Defenders, an organisation that defends human rights defenders. I had various tasks involving shredding, the database, organising books, an interview and writing an essay. I found that Frontline were really involved in my work experience, giving me jobs that actually have something to do with Frontline and not only just office jobs.  I’m really glad I chose Frontline because I learnt a lot about human rights and human rights defenders. Work experience taught me that I would not like to work in an office but instead do more hands on things, not just working from behind a computer."

Craig Derham (TY) recounts his work experience. "I did my work experience as a PE teacher with Ms. Finnegan. It was good fun and I learned new skills. I helped Ms. Finnegan teach classes, organise classes, set up new equipment and do some jobs. I learned how to work with children and how to teach them. Ms. Finnegan was a great help to me and thought me many things during the duration of the week. I would like to work in sport in the future as a career."

Fearghal Keller (TY) outlines his work experience. "For my work experience, (14th-18th February) I went to work in a restaurant called Brambles in Terenure as a chef. The reason I wanted to work there was I have always liked cooking and I wanted to see what the kitchen of a restaurant was like (i.e. how meals are prepared, what it is like when a kitchen was busy, etc.). The first day I started there, after meeting and talking with the head chef called Alex; I was put to work chopping and peeling vegetables under the supervision of a chef named Deedee. I also met two of the other chefs as well - Liam and Vincent. After the first day it was decided that I would work from 9:00am - 3:00pm (six hours) every day, with the exception of Wednesday, when I worked from 3:00pm - 9:00pm to see what the kitchen was like when it was busy and to allow me to see how they prepared various meals such as desserts and main courses. There are sixteen people working there: the management (two people), the waiters and waitresses (six people) and the chefs (eight people). The people themselves were very kind, friendly and generous to me and I am very grateful to them for their hospitality and help. I thoroughly enjoyed both working there and with the chefs themselves. I felt that at times I was too slow for them when tasked with chopping or peeling vegetables, but I tried to make up for it by doing my best and working hard for them. I have felt that I have improved both my cutting and cooking speeds and have gained an invaluable insight into what goes on in the kitchen as a chef."
Peadar Charles (TY) explains what he did on his work experience. "For my work experience I got a placement in Tallaght Garda Station.  My father had originally worked in the Gardaí and fortunately he told me to write to them early so as to avoid disappointment because at the time I wasn’t aware of the large waiting list.  I think as far as work placements go the Gardaí was a terrific experience because unlike most work experiences I was with a group of  students all around my own age and we weren’t just sitting around the station for the week but were brought to a number of different units such as the Mounted and Dog units.  It gave me a good insight into what a Garda does on a day-to-day bases.  I really enjoyed it."           
 

[Images: www.frontlinedefenders.org, www.sxc.hu, www.brambles.ie, google.ie/images]