Inspirational young people are a shining example
A LOCAL school held a celebration event at the Slieve Donard Hotel last week to mark the end of the inaugural year of their girls’ leadership programme.
Shimna Integrated College held the ‘Your Time to Shine – A Celebration’ event on Wednesday, 5 June.
The Time to Shine programme was a new initiative that Shimna started this year with a group of 20 girls in Year 13, who had applied to take part.
The girls met once a month with the school’s vice-principal, Karen Caulfield, and Catherine Murnin, founder and owner of The Wellbeing Pathway, as well as various local women business leaders. The goal was to discuss a variety of topics and to encourage the girls in their future endeavours.
Mrs Caulfield, who was one of the speakers at the event, said the idea for the Time to Shine programme came about in spring 2023 when she had a conversation with Co Down resident Ms Murnin, about doing something special to encourage and empower some of the “amazing group of girls” in Shimna’s Sixth Form this year.
The programme then began in September 2023 with the first cohort of girls taking part, but the school hopes to continue the programme in the future.
“We’re hoping to develop it further next year,” Mrs Caulfield said.
She said that Wednesday marked an important day for the school and the young people taking part in the programme.
“It’s about celebrating a remarkable milestone – the completion of the first ever Time to Shine programme,” she said.
She said that these 20 “inspirational students” should be commended for their perseverance and hard work this year during the programme.
Mrs Caulfield said that they did nine months of workshops, mentorship sessions and a corporate visit. The programme was to help build self-confidence in the young people and to help inspire them “to make an impact in the community and beyond.”
Ms Murnin, who also spoke at the event, said it was “a pleasure” to be a part of the programme with such bright young women. She said part of her role was in asking the girls to think about what do they want to be and what do they want to do to get there.
She said she could see the girls’ confidence grow as they showed up each month for the various sessions. The topics discussed at each monthly meeting varied from things such as teambuilding and female leadership to networking and using social media for good.
During the programme, the girls also got the opportunity to visit Jackie Reid at her company, Deli Lites, in Warrenpoint.
Ms Murnin explained that the three pillars of the programme were leadership, well-being and community. She said that the reason for doing the programme was to “improve confidence, develop new contacts for work experience, share ideas and create opportunities for our female leaders of the future, aligned to Shimna’s values.”
“You are all amazing,” she told the young women during the celebration event.
“You are going to be the ambassadors for Northern Ireland on that global platform and I can’t wait to see what that looks like.”
Ruby Ferris, one of the Time to Shine participants, said she was glad that she took part in the programme. She said that as part of the Time to Shine sessions, the girls met with various female leaders “to inspire us and to teach us how we get to where they are now.”
She said that it also helped strengthen friendships among the participants.
“We were coming together as a group of girls,” she said.
Another of the Year 13 participants, Katie McGurnaghan, said she liked learning about the real-life stories of female role models who are in business and hearing how they were able to “achieve big things”.
“It’s not just about business. It’s about everyone coming together for a higher purpose,” she said.
“It was just a lot of fun as well.”
Another one of the Time to Shine participants, Madison Crawford, expressed how nice it was to actually meet people in person, after her age group did so much online learning during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It was good to meet them in person, not just on a video,” she said.
“I really enjoyed the experience of going through Deli-Lites as well,” she said. “We got to make a muffin.”
During the special event on Wednesday, the girls in the programme, who had organised the event themselves, and their parents were in attendance.
The invited guests included local business and church leaders, as well as Shimna principal Steve Pagan, some Shimna staff members and MLAs Aisling Reilly and Pam Cameron.
Some highlights of the event were multiple speakers, refreshments and music from harpist Enya Leckey, a Shimna Year 12 student, and the Singing Sisters group, made up of Year 13 students Ruby Ferris, Aurora Milligan, Jana Pobloth and Sophie Waddell, who are also part of the Time to Shine programme.
There were also video remarks from ‘The Late, Late Show’ host Patrick Kielty, Jane McCooey, of Women with Ambition in New York, and Mairead Mackle, the CEO of Tarasis Enterprises.
Aurora Milligan was the student host for the event. She said that she really enjoyed being a part of the Time to Shine programme.
“We were so inspired to see so many women in leadership roles who are achieving a work-life balance,” Aurora said.
“Being part of the programme has brought us one step closer to making our dreams a reality.”
She said that the goal of the day was “to celebrate this fantastic programme and highlight the importance of showcasing female leaders early to young women.”
Speaking during the event, Shimna principal, Steve Pagan, said: “Time to Shine is such an exciting initiative.”
“Genuinely you are an exceptional group of young people,” he told the girls in the programme. “I think this is just a start.”
He said one of the great things about the programme was that it was a way for women leaders to inspire the next generation.
“With Time to Shine, they are passing the baton to you and our hope is that the best is yet to come,” he said.
MLA Aisling Reilly, of Sinn Féin, is a Junior Minister in the Executive Office at Stormont. She spoke during the event and congratulated Shimna, not just on the Time to Shine programme, but also on reaching its 30th anniversary and on its new building, which is due to open during the next school year.
“I’m absolutely delighted to be a part of today’s showcase,” Ms Reilly said.
“It fills me with great hope and appreciation to see programmes like this and young people getting the chance to shine.”
She also encouraged the young people to continue on even if they encounter challenges in the future.
“Challenges are really just opportunities to learn and to grow,” she said.
She said that she would continue to work with others in Stormont to make this part of the island of Ireland “a better, more inclusive place to work, live and thrive”.
“I can’t wait to see where your journeys take you all,” she said.
“Events like today make me very optimistic about the future.”
Another Junior Minister in the Executive Office, MLA Pam Cameron, of the DUP, said she was pleased to be asked to speak at this “uplifting” event to “mark the celebration of an initiative that highlights female leadership”. She said it was also good to see business leaders getting involved with the programme.
“It’s important that local businesses open their doors to young people. I am pleased to see that some of the businesses have done that, including DeliLites,” she said.
Ms Cameron said she would continue to work for gender equality in Northern Ireland.
“It’s vital that we do something about gender equality, including ending violence against women and girls,” she said.
She commended all of the girls for taking part in this programme.
“When we empower women of all ages … we build a brighter future for everyone,” she said.
Shimna vice principal Mrs Caulfield said that she had been inspired by working with the young women in the programme who are “determined to make a difference”.
“You have inspired me with your passion, your determination and your vision for the future,” she told the Shimna students from the podium.
“Leadership is about much more than just a position,” she said.
“The world needs leaders like you.”
“Never ever underestimate the power that you have to create a better world for us all,” Mrs Caulfield said.
