"I NEVER THOUGHT beings." This was the prisoners were human reaction of one Transition Year student in Ballyhale Vocational School, Co Kilkenny, after a former prisoner visited the school.

The principal at Ballyhale, Tom Hunt, says that Transition Year is about changing attitudes and perceptions, and about giving students a chance to explore possibilities.

A visit by Adi Roche, the tireless worker on behalf of the victims of Chernobyl, sparked off an even more amazing response. Last year - the first year the school ran Transition Year - students were so affected by Adi's talk that they raised £1,000 to help.

Speaking on the theme of Chernobyl, Sophie Walsh and three friends won the national final of a public speaking competition organised by the Irish Business and Professional Women's Association.

This year's students were briefed by Sophie and company, and they decided to carry on the good work. Under the guidance of art teacher Maureen Roche, they rescued the old school minibus from an ignoble end on the scrap heap in order to transform it into an ambulance.

Thomas Coogan, a Transition Year student, explains that Bord Gais gave them an old van, with a good engine. "We were going to take the engine out of it and put it into our bus, but when we assessed it we decided it was too good for this so we restored the two buses.

"We had to put a new diesel engine and new gearbox in the school bus. It was a big job but we got time off to do it.

"Mechanics was an option on Wednesday afternoons and we worked on it then - but near the deadline everybody was working on the bus all the time," he explains.

Meanwhile, other Transition Year students were standing outside local supermarkets collecting more than 20 trolley loads (and innumerable boxes) of food and medicine. Transition Year student Theresa Delahunty says they collected for three days, asking people to buy extra food and over the counter medicines. People were very generous, she says.

Tom Hunt reckons that the students collected £5,000 worth of food and £4,000 worth of medicine as well as donating £2,000 towards an incubator. The food and medicines were packed in the two ambulances and joined the convoy heading for the Chernobyl region. He estimates that the total contribution is probably worth in excess of £30,000.

Hunt says the students "acted as catalysts for good in the local area. It was tremendous achievement to see two ambulances going off."

From a principal's point of view, Hunt finds Transition Year "difficult and challenging and worthwhile and exasperating and worthwhile".

As for the students, Theresa Delahunty says that she thought Transition Year wouldn't amount to much; but, she says, "it's brilliant".

Further away, the ambulances are bearing up well, as they face the ultimate test in mechanics - a drive across Europe. When last heard of, they had reached Hanover and were going strong.