The Student Leadership Conference was held in DCU St Patrick’s Campus on the 17th of April and was another outstanding success.
Students and Teachers traveled from all across the country to attend the event. After everyone registered they then gathered in the lecture hall to begin the day.
Once everyone was seated we were welcomed by Dr. Cora O Farrell who is the Director Mater Dei Centre for Catholic Education at DCU as well as Professor Daire Keogh the President of Dublin City University.
Following this we had the lighting of the CEIST Candle and opening prayers read out by those students in attendance from our various school.
Everyone received a warm welcome from our CEO Gerry McGuill who was then followed by Archbishop Dermot Farrell who offered a welcome of his own as well as a Blessing.
We then had the pleasure of viewing the following four presentations from some of our schools. They were on the following topics;
Empowering Female Leaders in our School
– by Arjeta, Magdalene, Shauna and Tara from Scoil Chríost Rí, Portlaoise.
Our Journey to Becoming a Champion School of Sanctuary: The Sanctuary and CEIST Ethos Connection
– by Wiktoria, Weronika, Pierce and Joseph from Mercy Secondary School Kilbeggan.
Sustainability and Global Citizenship
– by Jokubas, Evan and Sarah from St. Mary’s Secondary School, Newport, Co. Tipperary.
To Belittle is to be Little
– by Tamima and Miracle from Coláiste Nano Nagle, Co. Limerick.
After a short break the students divided into their induvial rooms, where they participated in their student workshops, the topic of which was Making a difference CEIST Values in Action – “What you can do to make a difference”.
The following three questions where put to the students which resulted in in-debt discussions and sharing of ideas. It was here the students where asked three questions that they had to discuss among themselves in their groups.
- What where their impressions of the four presentations they had just seen?
- What are they currently doing in their own school?
- What idea/ideas would they bring back to their own school.
While students, attended workshops their teachers where able to hear from our special guest speaker Dr. Domnall Fleming. Dr. Fleming presented a very impressive lecture on the importance of the Student Voice.
Dr. Fleming’s lecture was very insightful and for those who were unable to attend his slides can be downloaded below:
Student Voice An overview CEIST Conference_17 April 2024 by Dr. Domnall Fleming
Following lunch everyone returned to the lecture theatre where students gave feedback on their workshops as well as a short follow up from Dr. Fleming.
To finish the day Gerry McGuill, our CEO thanked all who attended, as well as everyone involved in making the 2024 CEIST Student Leadership Conference a truly special event.
