There was a small gathering of students recently in the school library of Donabate Community College to celebrate the publication of a collection of writings by students from the past academic year. This collection was dedicated to Mr. Joe Cremen, a recently retired English and Maths teacher who had inspired both students and colleagues alike.
‘Finding our Voices’ is a compilation of poetry, prose and journalistic pieces written by DCC students from 2nd to 6th year from the past academic year, compiled by the teachers in the English department. Ms.Alice Chaloner, an Art teacher in DCC, helped design the cover and Rebecca Kiernan, TY student provided the front cover photograph.
At Mr. Cremen’s request this was a low-key event with just a small gathering of staff and students. There were some lovely readings from the collection by some of the authors. Aoife Nolan read her poem “Together”, followed by “The Old Soldier” by Rachel Smyth. Then Georgia Tanner read an extract from her short story “A Tattered Coat” and Lee McCarthy read an extract from his short story “Coloured In”.
Mr. Cremen was presented with a signed copy of the book. After which he thanked everyone and told us how his least favourite part of his job was correcting copies but it was also his favourite part because sometimes he found what he described as “a gem” in between the hundreds of copies he corrected. He described the work of these students as gems and urged them to continue writing. Mr. Cremen told us that he had never had a book dedicated to him before and he was truly humbled and honoured by this. Throughout the whole event Mr. Cremen was radiating happiness.
School Principal, Mr. Anthony Creevey concluded by saying that “This event has been quiet, subdued but filled with wonderful content. Like Mr. Cremen”.
Congratulations to Brooke Bolton, Rebecca Caffrey, Cian Donlan, Louise Evans, Amara Ezisi, Aoife Fennell, Aisling Keogh, Dominic Late, Aoife Lyster, Lee Mccarthy, Aoife Nolan, Shauna O’Brien, Rachel Smyth, Giorgia Tanner and Alison Wall whose work can be found in the book.
Copies of the book are available for €5 by contacting mlowry@donabatecc.ie.
Thanks to TY Journalism students Emma Byrne and Keava Roche for this article.
