Galway's Seamount students are officially green all over!
Environmentally conscious students from Seamount College in Kinvara proved their green credentials to emerge as second-level winners in the Green-Schools’ Marine Environment Awards, which took place in Dublin recently.
The Seamount students demonstrated outstanding commitment to marine awareness and environmental action through a wide range of student-led initiatives over the past two years.
Over that time, Seamount College has built a highly active and impactful Green-Schools programme, combining hands-on action, education, and community partnership.
A highlight was their Day of Action at Traught Beach, where 30 Green Team students worked with Kinvara Tidy Towns, Galway Rural Development’s Climate Officer and local Earth Keepers. Students took part in beach clean-ups, the “Explore your Shore” programme, the Big Breakdown game, and learning sessions on Blue Flag criteria.
The day ended with a debrief where students shared findings and completed questionnaires to deepen their learning.
Beyond this, the school has developed a strong and active Green Team presence, sharing their work through social media, school communications, and support from the local Tidy Towns group.
Their initiatives include regular litter picks, composting, ReTurn campaigns, and a joint project to reduce disposable coffee cup use in the community.
Students have also engaged in extensive environmental learning and action, including marine biodiversity citizen science courses, ocean surveys, climate ambassador projects, and research into global issues such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
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Community engagement has been a strong feature, with collaboration across schools and local organisations, including hosting Green-Schools Marine Film Club event where they welcome two other secondary schools to view a documentary in their school.
They also contributed to the recent ‘Love my Bay’ Marine awareness event held in Kinvarra a few weeks ago.
The awards ceremony celebrates schools working on the eighth theme of the Green-Schools programme “Global Citizenship: Marine Environment”.
This module encourages schools to develop their understanding of the importance of our coastal and oceanic environments, with a particular focus on taking action to raise awareness about and reduce the impacts of marine litter and plastics.