Young Social Innovators (YSI) is Ireland’s largest social awareness and active citizenship and education programme.
Its main goal is to get young people (15-18yrs) involved in action which helps improve the lives of others in their community. YSI involves thousands of young people in Ireland each year in hundreds of projects and social enterprises which are youth-led, team-based and action-focused. Each year, each YSI team is invited to present their project at the YSI Speak Out Regional fora. A national Showcase of Young Social Innovators takes place in May each year where thousands of young social innovators come together and showcase their projects. St. Gerard’s School has participated in YSI over the last 8 years and showcased many projects at the annual final in the RDS. The Transition year YSI teams in St Gerard’s have worked on social issues such as homelessness, special educational needs, Debra Ireland, refugees and foreign aid. The projects are student-led and involve researching a social issue of choice and developing an innovation to improve the situation for people around them in society. The students develop and utilise life - long skills, including communication, research and team-work.
