DkIDkITimesTimes The DkIT Institute NewsletterThe DkIT Institute Newsletter Vol 5 Issue 28Vol 5 Issue 28

Editor: Angela ShortEditor: Angela Short

Assistant Editor: Assistant Editor: Margaret ClarkeMargaret Clarke

Historical Editor: Historical Editor:

Seamus BellewSeamus Bellew

editor@dkit.ieeditor@dkit.ie

DkIT’s 40th Anniversary 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 wel-come. 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‟ con-

sists 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)

Colm Smith

Daire Lawless Gavin Kerrigan

Rosemary Talon

Kevin Lacey

‗ 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 Ve-nus, 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 po-

litical 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.

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).

T.K. Whitaker Visits DkITT.K. Whitaker Visits DkIT

Dr T K Whitaker with students and staff of Ceol Oirghialla: Left to Right: Siubhan O Dub-

hain, Dr T K Whitaker, Dr Eibhlis Farrell, John Boylan, Hannah Casey, David Lynn, Adèle

Commins, Denis Cummins, President of DkIT

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 under-

standing 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 d i r e c t l y b y e m a i l t o :

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 Louis‟ Secondary School Carrickmacross visit DkIT for last years Scifest.

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 fic-tion 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 TimeIt’s Caption Competition Time

Congratulations John Gilmore

And this weeks…?

Send your suggestions to editor@dkit.ie Send your suggestions to editor@dkit.ie

Brian “Constantin....Did you know that Marx's grave is

nothing but a Communist plot?”