DkITimes
The DkIT Institute Newsletter
Vol 5 Issue 28
Editor: Angela Short
Assistant Editor:
Margaret Clarke
Historical Editor:
Seamus Bellew
editor@dkit.ie
DkIT’s 40th Anniversary
Dundalk Regional Technical College was officially opened in May
1971 and so this is our 40th Anniversary. To mark the occasion a
number of events have been organised.
All of the events are free and no booking is required. All are welcome. Check www.dkit.ie for more information on events in the
coming weeks.
Building Sustainable Communities
Speaker: John Lonergan, Former Governor
of Montjoy Prison
When: 9th May at 8pm
Venue: The Old Gaol, Carrickmacross Road,
Dundalk
Executive Comedian
This new show „Executive Comedian‟ consists of comments on the recent tumultuous
events in our country both through stand up
and song.
Performer: Joe Rooney, Comedian
When: 26th May at 8pm
Venue: Black Box Theatre, DkIT
DkIT Sports Scholarships Awards Evening
The scholarships are a reflection of Dundalk Institute of Technology‘s‘ commitment to the
development of a comprehensive sporting policy and are awarded to students who
display high achievement levels, commitment and dedication to their chosen sport, and
most importantly loyalty and dedication to that sport within the Institute. The scheme is
developed to offer recipients a comprehensive package including: Sport Science support,
free use of facilities, financial assistance, and sports equipment.
DkIT hosted an Awards Evening in order to commemorate the 2010/2011 Sports
Scholars, and with such a diverse range of sports i.e. athletics, fencing and GAA, this
years scholars were excellent representatives for Dundalk Institute of Technology
This year‘s awardees are:
Rosemary Talon (Athletics)
Kevin Lacey (Basketball)
Alexandra Lollies (Fencing)
Grainne Miggins (Athletics)
Derek Maguire (Gaelic Football)
Colm Smith (Gaelic Football)
Daire Lawless (Kickboxing)
Philip Corrway (Kickboxing)
Aine Keogh (Camogie—pictured above)
Brian Fitzpatrick (Gaelic Football)
Damien Whelan (Administration – GAA)
Gavin Kerrigan (Hurling)
Scholars who were unable to attend the evening;
Grace Murray (Soccer)
Shane McGann (Hurling)
Derek Horan (Hurling)
Eoin Marsh (Hurling)
Daire Lawless
Gavin Kerrigan
Kevin Lacey
Colm Smith
Rosemary Talon
‗ L a
B e l l e
H é l è n e ’
The French Second Empire , Homer‘s Iliad and contemporary political satire fuelled the
classic love story of Paris, the ‗homme a la pomme‘, and Helen , Queen of Sparta in a
sparkling production of Offenbach‘s opéra bouffé ‗La Belle Hélène’ ,staged last week in
the Black Box Theatre by DkIT music students. The main roles were superbly played by
Hannah Casey (Helen), David Lynn (Paris) and John Boylan (Menelaus), all final year
students who are specialising in Music Theatre. The main comic roles included the wily
Augur, Calchas ( Luke Bermingham) and his dopey sidekick Philocomus (Brendan
Linnane) and Leoena,(Dearbhail Downey), the local masseuse, and the only agnostic in
Greece. Ancient celebrities abounded, with the Spartan Kings, Agamemnon (Adrian
Lydon), Ajax (Fionán Templeton) and Achilles (Alan Kavanagh), Menelaus‘ playboy
nephew Orestes (Ruairi Quinn) and his beefy companion Hercules (Dermot O‘Connor).
Casino owner Cressida and Helen‘s nosey housekeeper Bacchis were played by Victoria
Olaoye and Maeve O‘Donovan. From the other side of the Olympian clouds came Venus, Minerva and Juno, (Ciara McEntee, Edel Murray and Rachel O‘Brien) along with
their frisky messenger boy Mercury ( James Crehan).
Apart from the solo singers, there was a full range of cameo roles in the sixty strong cast,
which included a group of American tourists, an ice-cream vendor, and a souvenir
salesman who was trying to flog the kings a piñata full of little soldiers.... For the first time
from the student ranks stepped a choreographer, Roisín Timoney, who has held
countless national and international titles in Irish dancing, but this time produced a
dazzling Cancan. The new dance studio in Carrolls‘ has proved to be an invaluable asset
for the Music Theatre group, and Roisín‘s arrangement of ‗ I am gay, I am gay and I don’t
give a hoot’ was quite hilarious.
The original French script had been given a complete makeover by Siubhán Ó Dubháin,
who allowed plenty of opportunity for political satire and more than one politician and political party was given a deserved roasting by Dermot O‘Connor and Ruairí Quinn. (Our
Ruairí, that is.)
The DkIT chamber orchestra under the direction of Caitriona McEniry -Roschke gave a
splendid performance of Offenbach‘s memorable music, with piano continuo from
co-director, Mary McCague.
Siubhán and the students made a great job of the costumes which ranged from Greek
chitons to French corsets, and Tony Rice, the lighting designer put his own professional
touch to the staging, allowing the Temple of Jupiter to be transformed into a giant double
bed! The backstage crew, led by Liam Molloy, included Bill Farrell, Tadhg O‘Sullivan
and Sean Conway.
The newly edited French opera proved to be a popular choice for both audience and
students, and is another first for DkIT Music Department.
T.K. Whitaker Visits DkIT
Dr T K Whitake r with students and staff of Ceol Oirghialla: Left to Right: Siubhan O Dubhain, Dr T K Whitaker, Dr Eibhlis Farrell, John Boylan, Hannah Casey, David Lynn, Adèle
Commins, Denis Cummins, President of DkIT
The ‘Irishman of the Millennium’, Dr. T.K. Whitaker paid a return visit to Dundalk Institute of
Technology on April 12t h accompanied by former Mayor of Drogheda, Mr Sean Collins, and
was given a conducted tour of the new PJ Carroll Building by Mr Denis Cummins, DkIT
President. Kenneth Whitaker is a native of Rostrevor, County Down, ‘only a stone’s throw
away’, as he remarked to Dr. Eibhlís Farrell, who is also from Rostrevor.
During his tour he was entertained to some music in the new Fr. McNally Recital Room by 4 th
year students Hannah Casey, John Boylan and David Lynn, and piper Tommy Fegan, who played
the haunting south Armagh song Úrchnoc Chéin mhic Cáinte . Ninety five year old Dr. Whitaker
responded with his own rendition of Art Mac Cumhaigh’s iconic Úirchill an Chreagáin , to the
delight of the students. He expressed his approval in the facilities enjoyed by the School of
Informatics and Creative Arts which he said were better than any in Ireland. He also spoke of his
pride in DkIT, and, recalling his own student days, wished the young people well in their final
exams. Dr Whitaker also visited the Library to see the development of the archive of his unique
collection which he has donated to the Library and was shown the ongoing archiving process by
Concepta Woods (Deputy Librarian).
Launch of New Book: Irish Cases in Entrepreneurship
From Left-Right: Paul Kerley (Norkom Technologies), Dr Cecilia Hegarty (Research
& Programme Manager Dundalk IT), Denis Cummins (President of Dundalk IT).
The Accelerating Campus Entrepreneurship (ACE) Initiative book contains a range of live
case studies that are suitable for use in entrepreneurship education and training. The
cases should be particularly useful in Higher Education in Ireland and in the international
context. These case studies can be employed to enhance the student‘s practical understanding of the theory of the entrepreneurship process and new venture development, as
they highlight the dynamic process of entrepreneurship, whether this is in a new start-up,
a community venture or a long -established business.
The cases are written by staff at the teaching interface, by recent graduates, and by
experts and mentors involved with growing commercially viable ventures. The cases will
be of value to all enterprise educators as part of their pedagogical toolkit for delivering
enterprise education.
The editor, Dr Cecilia Hegarty is Research and Programme Manager for the Regional
Development Centre based at Dundalk Institute of Technology. The publisher is Oak Tree
Press, a leading specialist publisher in the area of entrepreneurship in Ireland.
The Accelerating Campus Entrepreneurship (ACE) Initiative is a joint collaboration of
Institute of Technology Blanchardstown, Cork Institute of Technology, Institute of
Technology Sligo and National University of Ireland Galway and is being led by Dundalk
Institute of Technology.
Dr Cecilia Hegarty at the book launch
If you would like further information on this
event please email: ace@dkit.ie. If you
would like to order a copy of the book
please contac t Oak Tree Press
di rec t l y
b y
emai l
to:
orders@oaktreepress.com
SciFest 2011
Scifest 2011 will be taking place in Dkit next Wednesday 4th
May. All are welcome to drop by and view the projects on
display in N111/112/113 (Nursing Building) from 10.00 12.30. This year we have nearly 200 secondary students
displaying over 80 science projects.
Scifest is a festival of Science open to all second level students which encourages a love
of Science through enquiry-based learning. SciFest consists of a series of one-day
Science fairs funded by Intel Ireland and Discover Science and Engineering as project
partners and hosted nationwide by Institutes of Technology. It aims to encourage a love
of Science through active, collaborative, Inquiry-based learning and to provide a forum for
students at local/regional level to present, communicate and display their Scientific
investigations.
Students from St Loui s‟ Secondary School Carrickmacross vi sit DkIT for last years Scife st.
KINDA RANDOM
A new performance from Upstate Theatre Project in aid of the Drogheda
Youth Café will be performed in the Little Duke Theatre 11 th-14th May.
―I‘ll tell you everything you need to know: I don‘t like homework or Sunday. I
hate people that stalk people. I hate liars. I hate fake people. I hate being
woken up. I hate school. I like tattoos. I like piercings. I like red hair.
Not ginger RED RED RED…….Where will you be in 3 years time? What‘s
the best thing about being a teenager?‖
Come and find out the answers to these questions and more at the premiere
of ‗Kinda Random‘.
Upstate Theatre Project initiated the intercultural youth project, which has
been working together with 13 local teenagers over the past few months.
Using their own life experience the young participants have devised an
original script, not only in content, but in style. The lead artist on the project
is Tara Jenkins who is assisted by Adedayo Williams-Funmilayo. The script
has been developed with the help of Belfast writer Fintan Brady.
Tara explained that ‗we are trying to do something a bit different with this
performance we didn‘t want just to create a fictional world that no one really
related to, so we mixed it a bit and you won‘t be able to tell the truth from fiction in this performance. The style is also different so we‘ve been challenging
ourselves to try and make it as vibrant as possible. Ultimately we want to tell
it how it is for young people growing up in Ireland but to entertain as well. I
think we do that.‘
The intercultural youth group is one of the projects in Upstate‘s extensive
programme of activity this year. Upstate co-ordinate programmes that give
people the opportunity to work alongside professional artists and develop
original material of mutual interest. The programme also includes the Shared
Heritage Project looking at the lives and histories of local Drogheda people
and an adult intercultural project, which will culminate in a performance at
the end of May.
Tickets for „Kinda Random‟ are €5 and are available from the Box Office
number 041-9844227. Details of all Upstate‟s projects are available on
our website www.upstate.ie
It’s Caption Competition Time
Brian “Constantin....Did you know that Marx's grave is
nothing but a Communist plot?”
Congratulations John Gilmore
And this weeks…?
Send your suggestions to editor@dkit.ie