This International Women’s Day we showcase how WIT staff supported one young woman in her quest to find her way onto her future career path
The Department of Applied Arts at WIT recently welcomed 16-year-old St Angela’s (Ursuline) school student and Shona Project Ambassador Libby Marchant, for a week’s work experience as part of her Transition Year programme.
The Shona Project, established by local woman Tammy Darcy aims to inspire, motivate, and support young women to fulfil their potential.
Budding creative writer Libby has been supported through The Shona Project to develop her writing voice and confidence in her skills. Libby has been eager to learn more about a career in academia, and through her work experience in WIT has been able to produce a series of writing outputs, and to make connections with staff in the Department which builds upon the valuable mentorship provided to her by The Shona Project.
Student for a week
During her week in WIT, Libby participated in sociology and psychology classes whilst shadowing lecturers Dr Hazel O’ Brien, Dr Katie Cagney, and Ms Keira Flanagan. Libby learned about the creation of modules, teaching methodologies, lecturer-student engagement, and the process of academic research. During her time in the Department, Libby produced a blog post on the media that incorporated her learning from a sociology lecture. She created sample lesson plans for a lecture and tutorial on the ethics of animal testing, and drew up a research proposal for her own dream research project investigating the social and health consequences of smoking! It was a busy week for Libby, but a very beneficial one.
Libby had this to say about her time in WIT: “I really enjoyed my week in WIT. Before undertaking my work experience I wasn’t aware of the work that the staff put into their students, and I think that really reveals itself in the atmosphere at WIT. WIT is friendly and open minded, and I can’t wait to go there as an actual student.”
Commitment to community engagement
Libby’s work experience was supervised by Dr Hazel O’ Brien, lecturer in Sociology. Dr O’ Brien says “We in the School of Humanities are committed to community engagement and to empowering the next generation. Undoubtedly, the Shona Project has helped to provide Libby with the confidence to challenge herself to experience life as a lecturer in WIT. For this reason, I was delighted to hear that Libby’s blog post on the media, which she created during her time in WIT, has now been published on the Shona Project website. Given that International Women’s Day takes place on 8 March, I think Libby’s story reminds us of the power of local organisations such as WIT and The Shona Project to inspire young women and to support them in achieving their goals”.
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