Cobh YMCA celebrates a year of achievement at STEP Graduation

A presentation evening for Cobh YMCA took place on Monday 19^th December to mark the completion of the STEP training course of nine more graduates. The Mayor of Cobh, Cllr. Jim Quinlan was present at the town’s Sirius Arts Centre to congratulate the young people. A secondary teacher himself, he said how pleased he was to see three former students receiving their STEP certificates. He urged the trainees to build on this the STEP course experience which has seen them ‘get back into’ education and engaging with the process of trying to figure out the direction that they are going. On STEP he said that it was ‘Fantastic that there was such a programme at the YMCA for the young people of Cobh’ [sic].

The trainees themselves told of their experiences; Darren Swart completed a work placement at Fota Wildlife Park and spoke of his hopes of attending an animal management course next year; Saoirse McCarthy had the opportunity to travel to Berlin on a YMCA European training programme and was able to engage with the issue of politics in a European context and its relevance to young people today.

As well as these achievements, trainees were presented for their certification in ECDL, FETAC Communications and Work Experience, Food Hygiene, Health Promotion and Personal Development. The group also took part in the SafeTalk  programme, organised a fundraiser for the East African famine and took action to mark World Aids day on 1^st December. Creatively there were pieces of art work and a film that is still in production, whilst activity wise they visited The Glen activity centre, Spike Island and climbed Torc Mountain.

“It was an action packed course,” said coordinator James Bilson. “There is such a lot achieved in the 6 months that it is good to take stock of those achievements and congratulate the group on a night like this.”

Graduating on the night were Stephen Brown, Jessica Pender, Ashley Cronin, Darren Swart, Greig McQueen, Becky Langan, Saoirse McCarthy. Not pictured but also awarded certificates were John Hurley, Steven Walsh and Kieran Lowry.

For more information on CobhYMCA or STEP see www.ymca-cobh.org