Carrignafoy Community College – Civic Link Programme

The Civic Link programme is a brilliant opportunity to learn about life across the border, to create better communications with young people from Northern Ireland and also to learn about different problems in their own towns.  The students all work together as a team and learn how they can resolve any problems they have found.

The Transition Year students from Carrignafoy Community College took part in the Civic Link Programme, which is run by ‘Co-operation Ireland’.  The students from Carrignafoy met young teenagers from North Coast Integrated College, Coleraine, County Derry, half way by travelling to Dublin on the 23rd of March until the 25th of March 2011.  They all took part in many activities, such as the cinema, Dublin Zoo, shopping, etc.  They also took part in workshops with the students from North Coast and spent their time learning about each other’s towns and school life.

Throughout the few days, the Cobh students found out a lot about the students from County Derry and what life is like in Northern Ireland.  The idea of the programme is to create better connections and communications with schools across the border but it also aims for the students to become independent and try to fix problem areas in their own town.  The students from Carrignafoy Community College highlighted the risk of large amounts of fast food restaurants and services in Cobh.  They created a project, worked together to try and resolve the problem and presented it to the students
from North Coast Integrated College and likewise, students from Coleraine found a problem area in their own town, created a project and presented it to the students from Cobh.

The Carrignafoy students got on very well with the students from the North and still keep in touch with them.  Everyone, including the teachers, learnt a lot about each others towns and lifestyles on the trip to Dublin and they all really enjoyed the experience.  The students all said they really enjoyed the experience, even though the project was a lot of work, and they would all love to do it again next year.  All students would highly recommend the programme to other schools who are not yet involved in it as it is a brilliant experience and opportunity for all young people to learn many different skills and to make new friends.  The course was run by the ‘Co-operation Ireland’ director for Cork, Margaret Lucy.  Many teachers in the school helped and took part in the trip, including the art teacher Mr. Stephen O Shea, Special Needs Assistant Ms. Grace Hamilton and the Civic Link Co-ordinator for the school, Ms. Laurie O Driscoll.

Janet Forrest, Transition Year student