REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE 50th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS OF ST PAUL’S COLLEGE
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE 50th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS OF ST PAUL’S COLLEGE, RAHENY THURSDAY, 12TH OCTOBER, 2000
Is breá liom bheith anseo libh inniu agus sibh ag ceiliúradh Iubhaile Órga Choláiste Naomh Pól. Déanaim comhghairdeas le comhluadar uile na scoile ar an ócáid stairiúl seo agus ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a chur in iúl díbh go léir as an chuireadh agus as fáilte caoin agus cneasta a chur sibh romham.
It is a great pleasure for me to be with you here today as we celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the foundation of St. Paul’s College. Fifty years is a long time by any stretch of the imagination and especially in the field of education. But one thing which hasn’t changed is the ethos of this school, its mission to help every student reach his full potential, and to give each of you the best possible start in life. It is an ideal which is as fresh and relevant today, as it was a half century ago when it inspired the Vincentian Fathers to set up this school. Today’s equipment is different, the curriculum has been transformed, and computers are replacing chalkdust. But the need for school to be a place where young people are helped to grow in confidence and wisdom, in respect for themselves and others, will never go out of date. Often the most important things we learn in school never make it on to the curriculum, but we are tested on them day in, day out, for the rest of our lives: it is in school that you learn how your words, your acts can hurt another or help. Here you learn that when you reach out a hand to another person you make a friend, one of the most valuable things life can give you. The hope of your parents, the hope of this school for you, is that out of all these experiences, out of the ups and downs of life lived here, you will in time become ambassadors for this school, ambassadors for a particular way of looking at the world which would have made its founding fathers proud - respect for God, profound respect for everything he created, respect and joyful curiosity about those who are different, a sense of concern and responsibility for others, a commitment to use your talents to make a positive difference in the world around you.
St. Paul’s deserves particular credit for the key role it has played in helping to develop and pilot-test the new Transition Year Programme, Exploring Masculinities. At a time when so many of our young men find it difficult to come to terms with the complex and confusing demands of modern society, this Programme provides a valuable context for exploring some of the doubts, fears, threats and hopes that today’s students face, in a safe and confidential environment.
Creating that atmosphere of encouragement and affirmation throughout all the school’s activities, does not happen by chance. It takes a great deal of dedication and enthusiasm on the part of all the teachers here and both students and parents owe them a great debt of gratitude. Teaching is a profession which takes very special people, people who give and give until they are drained, who are very rarely thanked but who can be energised and affirmed by simply seeing a student making a genuine effort, just as they can be de-energised by a student’s cynicism or rudeness. So today, I would like to ask all of you to join me in a round of applause for all of the teachers here, and especially for your Principal, Dominic McQuillan, who has been a powerhouse of enthusiasm and energy in everything he has undertaken at St. Paul’s.
For students too, affirmation and praise are an essential tool in motivation: ‘Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí’ says the old adage - praise the young and they will blossom. Not all are privileged to come to school without a care in the world. Some face problems at home, problems with adolescence, with friends, with subtle and not so subtle bullies inside and outside school, with exam pressures and the necessary tyranny of homework. Classrooms are complex places with complex people. Life in them can be made so much easier where there is mutual respect, mutual compassion, where the effort is shared with teachers doing their part to the best they can and students giving their best because this is about their lives, their futures. That is what this school strives for, that partnership of endeavour, that atmosphere of respect.
I would like to pay particular tribute to the way this school has sought to put those principles of respect and understanding into practice through the links it has built with schools from other cultures and perspectives, both across Europe and, especially, with Grosvenor Grammar School in Belfast. In many ways, that relationship is a microcosm of what all of us on this island are trying to achieve on a larger scale: building on what we share, while growing in understanding and respect for beliefs and traditions which are different from our own. I would like to welcome the Principal, John Lockett and the other representatives of Grosvenor who are with us today.
It only remains for me to thank the Board of Management for the invitation to join you here today, and all of you for the wonderful welcome you have given me. May the next 50 years be as good as the first half century.
Go gcúití Dia bhur saothar daoibh. Go raibh maith agaibh.