Wider Horizons- 7th Irish Studies Seminar

The 7th Irish Studies Seminar, a two-week, cross-border collaborative programme involving St Patrick’s College and Stranmillis University College took place between Sunday 3rd and Friday 14th June.  This is a 2-week programme for the students and faculty staff of Middlesex Community College, Lowell, Massachusetts.  13 students participated in total this year and the St Patrick’s College delegates were Claire Marshall from Westmeath, Susan Murphy from Galway and Sinéad Smith from Cavan. Participation in the seminar entitled students to three course credits in their parent College.  The programme has arisen out of the Irish Colleges of Education Wider Horizons Programme in which the College has been involved since 1989.  The “Icebreaker Weekend” and formal launch of the programme was held in Stranmillis University College, Belfast, followed by a week of seminars and activities in Dublin.

The group was welcomed in the College by Dr Pauric Travers who spoke of the history of the College and its involvement in the Wider Horizons Programme over the last nineteen years.  The academic programme within the College has involved great input from staff of the English, History and Education departments.

The group spent one morning giving class lessons.  In pairs, members of the group taught the boys of O’Connell’s CBS, a disadvantaged north inner-city primary school.   This experience constituted the ‘community service learning’ requirement of all Middlesex Community College courses whereby students integrate some form of community service with their academic study with the aim of “enriching learning, teaching civic responsibility and strengthening communities”. 

The seminar also involved a series of lectures in both Stranmillis College and St. Patrick’s College and visits to places of cultural, political, historical and theatrical interest on both sides of the border.

The programme was organised and co-ordinated in the Republic by Carmel Dinan of St Patrick’s College and in Northern Ireland by Maurice Blease of Stranmillis University College.  This aspect of the programme allowed participants to benefit from visits to Newgrange and the Boyne Valley; Trinity College, Dublin; Dublin Castle; and Kilmainham Gaol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last Updated: Wednesday June 20 2007