This week, students from Donabate Community College were fortunate to have their writing displayed in the library on the Dublin City University’s St. Patrick’s campus. These poems are on display to celebrate the official naming of the Seamus Heaney Lecture Theatre in the DCU St. Patrick’s campus on Tuesday evening.
Congratulations to 6th Year students Aoife Lyster and Beth Kirwan, 5th Year students Elizabeth Akinwande and Sarah Oliver, 2nd Year students Lee Kenny and Niamh Neville and 1st Year student Ava Pender who all had their work proudly displayed.
Along with having our poems on display in the college, students were invited to this very special and memorable event. Attending the event amongst numerous lecturers and literature enthusiasts were Heaney’s family and his wife as well as the President of DCU, Brian MacCraith, founder of DCU and Irish times journalist and Heaney biographer, Fintan O’Toole.
The evening began with Seamus Heaney’s daughter giving a heartfelt speech about his time spent in DCU. She also proclaimed his passion for the English language and especially his profound love for poetry. The President of DCU, Brian MacCraith, then spoke and he gave a very detailed background of Seamus Heaney’s life in DCU and beyond it around the world.
A curtain was then pulled back to unveil a magnificent portrait of Seamus Heaney and an extract from his literature. We then proceeded to walk through into a state of the art lecture theatre while being greeted by a harp being played and Seamus’s literature being spoken. We sat and listened to Fintan O’Toole give an extraordinary tribute to Heaney and spoke about his love, drive and ambition to learn and to teach others at all ends of the world, whilst a presentation was being played behind him showing pictures of Heaney in his hometown, Castledawson in Northern Ireland.
The entourage made their way out to the library where the President of DCU read a poem from one of our students here in Donabate Community College and was ‘blown away’ with the standard. And was ‘looking forward to see more work in the future’. He also spoke to past pupil, Sean Farrelly whose work was on display. Sean’s poetry was published in a book called ‘Lightbulbs’ as part of a ‘Fighting Words’ project. Sean has worked as an intern in ‘Fighting Words’ and is currently a student at DCU.
On behalf of the students, I would like to thank the teachers in DCC for encouraging us to develop our writing skills. Many thanks also to Dr. Orla Lehane (Education Director, Fighting Words) and Dr. Anne Looney (Executive Dean, School of Education) from DCU for inviting us to such a special occasion. It was a wonderful opportunity and one which encourages us to keep writing and creating.
Article by Niamh Neville
Attending the event in the DCU St. Pats campus from left; Sean Farrelly (Class of ’15), Dr. Anne Looney (Executive Dean, School of Education), Dr. Orla Lehane (Education Director, Fighting Words), Niamh Neville (2nd Year student), Ms. Lowry (English Teacher, Donabate CC)