On Thursday the 12th of January, our School of Sanctuary Club was lucky enough to meet with some Sanctuary Ambassadors in DCU and discuss some of the actions being taken by colleges to support the refugee initiative. Karina Curley greeted the club (working with Schools of Sanctuary), Antoinette Patton and Ryan Casey (working with College Connect).
Karina Curley started off the meeting with an inspiring presentation which included statistics reflecting all of the amazing work being carried out by Schools of Sanctuary through education. She explains to the audience that her job is “to widen who attends DCU” and that the college “wants its campus to reflect society”. Karina ended her presentation by talking about activities that were carried out during Intercultural Week at DCU, which included things like an intercultural brunch, a day trip to Glendalough in June of 2022, and a soccer match in May of 2022.
After listening to the experts, it was time for our very own DCC Schools of Sanctuary Club to present their slideshow about the many thing DCC has been doing to make our school a more inclusive space for all students, including: signing a Schools of Sanctuary pledge, our Human Rights Awareness Week 2022, our annual shoe box appeal, being featured in the DDLETB newsletter, and our plan for a Culture Day in school. Our speakers blew everyone away with their passion, determination and confidence while presenting.
After a quick lunch break, Antoinette Patton spoke about the College Connect programme, and reminded our students about the programme’s message, “Education is for anyone”.
Antoinette then led the group in an activity talking about the importance of financial decisions and how students with different incomes are affected in college. In 2019, adults living in Adult Provision in Ireland received an allowance of €19.10 per week, and our students had open conversations about the difficulties this allowance would cause for college students who have to purchase food, books, school supplies, clothes, and everything in between. Thankfully, the allowance has recently been raised and is now €38 weekly as of 2022.
The visit ended with a tour of the DCU campus which was a thrill for all as Antoinette and Ryan told us all about the history of each building and about the college itself. Overall, this trip was an amazing experience and we are so grateful to DCU for accommodating this meeting. We are extremely proud of all our students involved in the Schools of Sanctuary Club for all of their hard work this year. We definitely have some future Sanctuary Ambassadors on our hands!
Written by Sophie Byrne and Ria Colohan, TY Journalism
