Young Creators’ Programme awards – an Access and Outreach initiative
Transition Year students from five local DEIS schools visited Grangegorman recently to celebrate their achievements and work after completing a 12-week media studies programme called the Young Creators’ Programme, where they learned how to create a short tv show or a podcast.
Students took part in a school-based workshop, and they also visited the Grangegorman campus for two further workshops. They worked on their communication skills with 2nd year Drama students and lecturers, and each team also spent a morning in a TU Dublin studio, where School of Media staff worked with them to record their shows.
They met staff and current students, enjoyed tours of the campus and were impressed by the facilities available. While the students learned about creating content and using camera equipment, they also learned about University life. The feedback from students was really positive and included "It made me more interested in college", "College can be fun", "[I learnt] that I want to go to college", "It was fun", and "… college doesn't have to be always books and tests". Teachers said the best part was "All of the time spent on the campus - students loved it!" and that participation ".. gave them more belief that it is achievable."
Each show was aired for the first time during an awards ceremony in St. Laurence's Church at the beginning of May. The School of Media and TU Dublin Conservatoire staff and students supported the initiative, which is now in its second year. Both years have been really successful, and it will run again in the next academic year. Click here to see some photos.
The Access and Outreach team run a variety of projects, taster workshops and information sessions with DEIS schools, community groups and Further Education colleges to engage with prospective students of all ages.
The team would like to work with academic schools to support them in achieving their widening participation objectives; contact Patricia Owens to discuss collaboration opportunities in the next academic year.