College Awareness Week is celebrating its 10th birthday on Monday, 20th November. As part of the celebrations, CAW will run a weeklong programme of events.
Founded by the Trinity Access Programme in 2014, College Awareness Week (CAW) has become an milestone in the education calendar, encouraging students to explore their options and consider the benefits of pursuing further and higher education. The initiative champions the ripple effect of providing role models to students and in doing so, encouraging them to explore and fulfil their educational potential.
Over the past ten years, CAW has significantly grown in scale, and today plays an instrumental role in fostering a college-going culture in schools across Ireland. In year one, the initiative saw 25,000 students from 46 schools participate in the programme. This year, it is expected that 163,000 students from 309 schools will participate in approximately 1,000 CAW activities across the country.
Over the last 10 years, CAW champions have included Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD, Tanaiste Michael Martin TD, Kerry GAA great Colm Cooper, former Master of Holles Street Maternity Hospital, Rhona Mahoney, senator Lynn Ruanne and immunologist Dr Luke O’Neill.
To celebrate 10 years of CAW, MTU Cork is hosting the “CAW TY Challenge” finals. Originating in MTU Cork and UCC Plus+ access programmes, The TY Challenge is an initiative aimed at transition year students, designed to engage them in exploring college options and inspiring their future aspirations, using digital and social media.
According to Prof Linda Doyle, Provost of Trinity College Dublin, “Going to college should be an option for anyone. No one should ever feel excluded. College Awareness Week is a fantastic opportunity to highlight this message. And, of course, if someone chooses another pathway, that is ok, so long as it is the result of a real choice and not a decision forced by circumstances.”
To learn more about College Awareness Week and the CAW TY Challenge launch at MTU Cork, visit www.collegeaware.ie.
