This term has been very busy at BSRAC with students enjoying lots of Science and STEM activities.
All of Rang 5 are very excited to be taking part in the Vex IQ Robotics competition this year. Thanks to the very generous donation of €1000 from Merck, on their visit in June with Curiosity Cube, we were able to purchase 3 new robotics kits so that all three classes can take participate this year.
The students have really enjoyed putting their engineering skills to the test with building the robots and learning to code the robot. January will be very busy with final preparations for the competition in MTU that month, practising their team work, driving and coding skills.
During Science Week Rang 5 were delighted to also have a visit from a group of scientists at Merck to talk to them about the important work they do in their laboratories. The students, and teachers alike, were fascinated to hear all about Merck’s work manufacturing cell membranes and in gene therapy and they even got to look at samples of equipment used in this. 
A huge thank you to Mark Dunphy of Merck for organising this visit and to the Merck team for giving their time and for their very kind gift of 5 STEM kits to our school too. The students had a great time working together to build these and it proved to be great practice for their robotics competition.
We look forward to having the Merck team back to speak to more of our classes in the New Year and continue to inspire our students in the wonders of Science.
