Active Future Programme – Week 5 – The Grand Tour

Posted November 23, 2016

Extract from shaneodonnellblog

This week adopted a change of format as we had the grand tour of the I.T. Carlow campus which took up the entirety of this week’s inputs. At the beginning of the programme participants were asked to list the courses in the college that they might be interested in studying. These ranged from Sports Science to Media Production, Bioforensics to Engineering and more. Based on this information we tried to organize a tour of the college that suited these needs of the participants, which gave them a taster of what the courses entail and which gave them an overall view of the facilities and support structures available in I.T. Carlow.

First up on the tour, we were shown the Barrow Centre which is the sports hub for I.T. Carlow. You may have seen many pictures of the Barrow Centre already if you have been reading this blog, as it was the backdrop for many of the pictures that were uploaded. We use the lecture theaters, basketball court and activity room in the Barrow Centre each week to run our various inputs. We were then taken upstairs where we were shown the gym, which is available to all students of the college, and the elite performance gym which is reserved for collegiate athletes and students of Sports Science, Sports Rehabilitation and Strength and Conditioning. From here we were taken to the physiology laboratory where various testing protocols are carried out to ascertain athletes key performance indicators. Our Sports Science students were on hand to answer the many questions participants had about studying human performance.

We continued on to the science laboratories where many fantastic and mystifying science experiments were taking place! I.T. Carlow offers a vast range of science courses from environmental science to brewing and distilling, so we tried to pack in as much information as we could. Next up was the humanities building where we peaked in some windows and saw what innovative products industrial design and product design innovation students were making. From here we traveled across to the Engineering Building and checked out what the mechanical engineering and electronic engineering courses had to offer. I think the aerospace engineering and aircraft systems management courses were the shining stars of this department with various airplanes and helicopter on display for all to see.

We then moved across to the library and the participants saw the tv and media production room where students were busy of producing a movie about a mishap in the operating room of plastic surgeon’s theater. Perhaps they had been inspired by Halloween!

Finally, the participants were shown some of the lecture theaters of I.T. Carlow and were given a talk from our access officer Aisling McHugh. Aisling informed the students on the different routes to third level that students can avail of if they do not meet the requirements of their desired degree. She explained the benefits of the access programme which provides additional supports and finances to students who are eligible and also discussed different financial supports options that are available to certain students. She gave a very comprehensive overview of all of the sports and recreational clubs in the college and outlined the various mental and physical health supports that were available to students such as the doctor, the nurse, the counselors etc. The participants then met back up with the Sports Science students who answered additional questions on the college experience and offered advice where possible. It was great to see many of the students talking about the different courses that they wished to do with many of them expressing an interest that they would like to come to I.T. Carlow.

Read Shane’s full post in here and follow the development of his Active Future Programme every Friday on the NowWeMOVE blog and YOTM website.

Shane O’Donnell completed in the Youth on the MOVE training for young MOVE Agents in Europe and Latin America in June. He is now leading the Active Future Programme in Ireland with the experience he gained from the course. Find out more about Youth on the MOVE, supported by the European Union under the Erasmus+ programme.