The majority of international students have attained a very good level of English some of them getting grades that are the top of the class . One student Heitor Gonzaga managed to get the first non EU scholarship to NUIG , where he has achieved 1st Class honors after his first year in engineering , this is a phenomenal achievement considering that he only started learning English a few months before his leaving cert course.
The school has a very good record on inclusion and integration and we strive to share culture and enrich all the students lives by marking days that would be celebrated in the countries of the international students. We have noted the carnation revolution on the 25th April as we have had a student from Angola, so it was important , to recognize this day of liberation. We celebrate with a special bread and display of carnations.
Last year we were lucky to receive an integration grant from Galway County Council so we managed four subsidized excursions. One in September and May to Delphi Adventure Centre where through challenges of high wire , surfing and kayaking , students overcame fears and helped each other through challenges.
We went ice skating in December and the other day excursion was into Galway on 8th March “ International Women’s Day “ to meet well known Galway based playwright and poet Patricia Burke Brogan . We met Patricia at the sculpture of the Magdelene Women in Galway , where the students read her poem that is inscribed beside it. The students and community had been busy making 70 baby t shirts out of recycled materials which were hung on washing lines . This was a both symbol of the recent denial of human rights in our society and the hope for the children of the future . We worked on the washing line theme for “ One World Week “ which took place shortly after the population of the earth reached 7 billion , the 70 baby t- shirts represented 10% of the school population and on billionth of the earth population . Though the privilege of small project such as this the school generates a sense of responsibility that the young people emerging from this school are the custodians of the planet . Though the washing line installation we also looked at the free energy created in the wind and use of energy in dryers which are taken as the norm in most homes in the developed world .
