“It is in giving that we receive” Saint Francis of Assissi
This week at assembly our new L6 Dominican Award pupils received their badges as they commence work over the next year with the aim of completing the award. 44 of our new Lower Sixth students will follow in the footsteps of the 63 pupils who have achieved this award over the past two years.
The Dominican Award is a Social Justice award which was established in our school three years ago. It is a voluntary award which encourages the participates to take part in charity work, social justice events and faith -based activities both in school and in our local communities.
The award is open to all year 13 pupils, it runs over 16 months, in which time pupils must complete 20 activities at part of school life, 10 activities within their own individual communities plus a reflective concluding presentation which then will be looked over by the Board of Governors and senior staff in order to be presented with their gold medal at the end of the process in recognition of their achievements.
At assembly Mrs Oliver, Dominican Principal, spoke of her great pride and pleasure in being able to introduce our Dominican Award students to the school. Mrs Oliver told members of both the junior and senior school that these pupils embody all that is best about Dominican College Portstewart and how they show the importance for pupils to develop all of their potential. In every way they represent our school ethos in action. Mrs Oliver presented the pupils with their Dominican Award badges and urged younger pupils to aspire to follow in their example when they reached the senior school.
Mrs Willighan, The Dominican Award Co-ordinator told junior and senior pupils this week, “The Dominican Award is a Social Justice award offered in our school. Social Justice is about helping others. We aim to empower our sixth form pupils help people that are unable to help themselves or those that simply need a helping hand. It is a voluntary award available to you all in Year 13. We encourage our Dominican sixth formers to take part in charity work, environmental work, volunteering opportunities and faith -based activities both in school and in our local communities.”
The following pupils described their work in The Dominican Award in the following ways at Morning Assembly this week:
Aissel Hanafy:
Our mission as Dominican award participants is:
‘To search for truth and justice as this is the core of our ethos. Our award encourages us to strive for a more just and peaceful society. We want to enhance our spiritual, physical, emotional and social development through participation is school and community activities. We hope to feel a personal sense of achievement from taking part in the award and show commitment to a task or goal.’
Our school motto is “Veritas” and we are trying to live out that truth in action. Through our volunteering activities we are attempting to be the best version of ourselves as we can be by being true to ourselves and each other.
Christian Hunter:
“The Dominican award is open to all year 13 pupils, it runs over 16 months, in which time we must complete 20 activities as part of school life, 10 activities within our own individual communities plus a concluding reflection piece which then will be presented to senior staff in order of them to award us with either our gold, silver or bronze medal at the end of the process in recognition of our achievements”.
Erin Duffy:
“Since I have joined the Dominican Award in October, I have been able to get involved in a multitude of social justice activities. As a group, we continue to run our in-school period poverty scheme, recycling initiative, litter picking, music monitors, toilet patrol and servery assistants.
Furthermore, the award members are co-ordinating our annual Dominican Save The Children Christmas Jumper Day. We also continued to support our local SVP conference and our members took a lead role in overseeing the SVP Christmas and Trocaire Appeal in the lead up to Christmas. The money that was raised from each of these social justice events helped families and specifically children living in poverty. We also have planned to support further social justice initiatives in the upcoming months such as participating in the Darkness into Light Walk, fundraising events and bun sales for different charities in school. There is also a group of students helping to transform the outdoor areas and greenhouse.”
Caitlin Quinn:
“One reason I joined the Dominican Award is because I want to give back to society. I want to be involved in helping both inside and outside of school and the Dominican Award gives me the platform and opportunity to do this. It allows us as sixth formers to set an example and be role models to younger year groups by showing that we are willing to give up our own time and volunteer to help others who need extra support. We want to do our part for social justice issues such as poverty, inequality and discrimination. We strive to be our generation’s advocates for social justice and put our thoughts and words into action by doing something about it.”
Melissa Binny:
“When committing to become members of the Dominican Award, we were also made aware of the importance of reaching out to our local community. Most of our members having taken part in fundraising activities on the run up to Christmas by helping out with the Christmas Charity Appeal and Carol service. In addition to this, we also donated food hampers, essential toiletries, sang Christmas Carols, danced and played music at our local care home, Madelayne Court. Many of our award participants also help with the local Flame club, which is a weekly youth club for the local children. We are also in the process of planning links with the National Trust and forming links with the RNLI and local charity Homestart”
Very best wishes to our 2024 Dominican Award pupils in all that do within and beyond the walls of DCP! The group are pictured at this week’s assemblies.
Dominican Award Participants 2024/25
Michael McCloy
Bronagh Lafferty
Christian Hunter
Amelia Michalska
Emily Boyle
Grace Goode
Mya Culbertson
Julia Jaworska
Jerry Kealey McDonald
Niall McGarry
Joe Marshall
Rose Hudson
Aissel Hanafy
Cara Duffy
PJ Terrington
Nea Marsh
Wiktoria Nourakowska
Charlie Wright
Caitlin Quinn
Clare McGill
Ellie Moore
Vinnie Thomas
Erin Duffy
Eva Bradley
Rose Crocker
Kerry Howe
Briana Kelly
Archie Redman
Lucy Macdonald
Leah McCauley
Melissa Binny
Luba Bozheskul
Aoibhe Wilson
Jessica McLernon
Lois Ridley Anderson
Isaac Kearney
Pamela Wysocka
Sukhdeep Kaur
Charlotte Hassan
Thomas Boorman
Poppy Irwin
Skye Williamson
Amelia Glombica
Caitlin Wilson
Mollie Wallis
