CCS Unlimited - Cabinteely Community School

BALLYGALL PROGRAMMEAs part of the school Religious Educationcurriculum every Tuesday afternoon the sixthyear classes have the opportunity to meeta guest speaker. The talks each week areorganised by the school so that the studentsmay become informed on current and relevantissues in their own lives and in the lives ofothers in our communities today. This term thespeakers have covered a range of issues.CULTSOn the first week Mr Michael Garde spokeabout ‘cults and their impact on people’s lives’.He gave various examples of well known cultswho use various questionable methods toattract and retain people in their organisation.Mr Richard Carson from ‘Aids Care EducationTraining’ spoke about the aids epidemicthroughout the world and the issue of aidsin Ireland. Mr Carson also addressed sexualhealth issues with regards our own personalhealth and safety.Mr John Lonergan the Governor of Mountjoyprison spoke about the toughness of prison lifeand gave many moving personal life stories.He also spoke about our changing societyand the dark side of a life of crime drugsand violence. One interesting statistic MrLonergan shared was that 90% of people inMount joy do not have a formal education. Heemphasised the importance of getting a JuniorCert and Leaving Cert in order to improveyour prospects in life.Mr John Wills from Aware made a presentationon the effects of depression and practical waysto deal with depression and the importance ofgood mental health.HOLOCAUSTWe were greatly honoured on Tuesday October23 rd when Mr Thomas Reichental a survivorof the holocaust visited our sixth years anddelivered a most memorable and movingaccount of his experience. Mr Reichental wasimprisoned at nine years of age in 1944 in thenotorious Bergen Belsen concentration camp.He lost over thirty members of his family in theconcentration camps during this most difficulttime in his life. Mr Reichental emphasised theimportance that this period in our history mustnever be forgotten. He delivered his talk inmemory of the many victims of the holocaust.In the second and third terms the speakersvaried from a wide range of organisations andcovered many informative topics that affectmany lives in our communities today. The14 CCSUnlimitedspeakers included Fr. Paddy Kelly from SaintJoseph’s Training Centre Finglas. Fr Paddywas accompanied by Julie and Helen fromthe travelling community who spoke on manytopics concerning their community in Irelandtoday. The speakers gave a personal andinformative insight into their lives and theirrelationships with the settled community.Teresa Melling from the Dublin Rape CrisisCentre visited the sixth year class groups andinformed the students on the effective andworthwhile work of the centre. She also helpedraise awareness on personal safety for youngadults today especially when socialising.Two speakers from Alcoholics Anonymousmade personal presentations concerningthe effects that the abuse of alcohol had ontheir lives and their family and friends. Theyalso gave very honest accounts on how theycontinue on a daily basis with their dailystruggle to remain off alcohol.A new group introduced to the school this yearcalled ‘3Rock Youth Group’ who are a faithbased multi denominational school retreatgroup made a very lively, entertaining andempowering presentation to the sixth years.Mr Gregg Fromholz the director of the group,who is originally from the US, spoke quiteeloquently and passionately about ‘choicemaking’, ‘not being limited or being held backby past experiences’ and ‘faith’. Mr Fromholzcertainly captured our attention and left uswith some food for thought.Tony and Liam from Gamblers Anonymousalso made a personal presentation on the starkeffects of addictive gambling on their ownlives and those of their families. Once againthe speakers spoke with a deep sense of passionand humility concerning their addictions.REFUGEMs Maria Mc Conalogue visited with the sixthyear class groups and informed the students onthe work of the Bray Women’s Refuge. Thestatistics concerning domestic violence andwomen in Ireland today were quite startling.Once again the students engaged and learneda great deal with regard this sensitive andunfortunate issue.THIRD WORLDMs Aoife Rush from Trocaire the nationalThird World charity organisation made apresentation to the students on the dailywork of the charity in late April. She gave afirst hand account of the benefits that we canmake in the lives of the poor and less fortunatepeople of the third world through fundraisingand raising general awareness.In May Mr Paddy Slattery a young man whowas paralysed in an accident on a Dublinbuilding site travelled from Co Offaly andgave an account of his life and his passion formusic. Mr Slattery hoped to raise awarenesson disability and gave an account of how hereadjusted his life after his accident.Mary from CURA discussed with the studentsthe effects of unplanned pregnancies andengaged with the students in some group workto enable the students to talk about this issuewithin their own peer group.HUMAN RIGHTSAgnes Murray from Amnesty Internationaldelivered her talk in late April on the work ofher organisation and all aspects concerninghuman rights and the violation of humanrights that takes place around the world.Agnes hoped to further inform the students onthis most important topic and emphasised theimportance of respecting the rights of all. Shespoke on the declaration of human rights.Mr Cathal Kelly from the Equality Authorityof Ireland attended in May as a final guestspeaker. He spoke to the students about the‘equality employment act’ and the ‘equalstatus act’. Cathal engaged the students insome group work to investigate further theimportance of equality and legislation toprotect citizens rights concerning equality.CCSUNLIMITED2008.indd 14 13/06/2008 10:49:03