St. Angela on the Emerald Isle - UA Global Education in Ireland!

On Sunday, Director of Global Education Amanda Neill landed in Dublin, Ireland to discover new friendships with our Ursuline sisters abroad.  

A 3 hour drive down the southeastern coast through the countryside brought Mrs. Neill to County Cork and the City of Cork, a lovely port town that captures all of the things that make Ireland a wonderful home away from home - quaint streets easily explored on foot, delicious Irish dishes, lush county-side and green rolling hills.  

Ursuline Primary School and Ursuline Secondary Schools are located in the Blackrock neighborhood of Cork, a quiet and residential neighborhood in this small city in the south of Ireland.  Like Ursuline Wilmington, these schools share a campus and educate children beginning in early childhood in a co-educational school and growing to a single gender school for ages 13-18.  

Primary School Sign

Principal Lucy Lambe and Deputy Principal Paula Goggin took Mrs. Neill on a tour of Ursuline, which is similar in size to UA Wilmington.  While on tour, Mrs. Neill had the opportunity to pop into some classrooms and meet some teachers which is always exciting.  One course that they offer to students that is different from UA is a modern twist on home economics which still includes cooking and sewing but now also includes home finances (mortgages, etc.), work-life balance, and technology.  The home economics classrooms were fascinating!

Secondary School

Secondary School Sign

While in County Cork, Mrs. Neill visited some of the local sites including the patron saint of Cork, St. Fin Barre's Cathedral and Blarney Castle in Blarney, about 30 minutes outside of Cork City.

St Fin Barre in Cork, Ireland

Blarney Castle in Blarney, County Cork, Ireland

Mrs. Neill also had the opportunity to visit St. Angela's College in the Patrick Hill section of Cork, which is just across the river from Blackrock.  St. Angela's is an all-girls Secondary School that sits in the middle of an incredibly steep hill overlooking Cork City.  Next to the school entrance sits the Ursuline Convent and up the street is the Christian Brothers Academy.  The school itself is quite modern in its urban setting, sitting amidst buildings that are hundreds of years old.  Girls wear bright green and enter through beautiful glass doors to the courtyard of their school.  The arts play a big role at this school and they have some incredible musical performances coming up in the near future.

St. Angela's College in Patrick's Hill, Cork, Ireland

Ursuline Convent in Patrick's Hill

St. Angela's College

Checking in for the school day at St. Angela's

Approximately 90 minutes north/northwest of Cork in lush and green County Tipperary sits Ursuline Secondary School in the town of Thurles.  Thurles is a quaint village surrounded by a rich agriculturally-driven society.  A few minutes off of the main square of Thurles on a quiet road sits the regal entrance to Ursuline Secondary School in Thurles.  Ursuline actually has both a primary and secondary school that are both single gender and housed on the same grounds.  Like Ursuline Wilmington, each has its own principal and leadership team.

Ursuline Secondary School in Thurles, Tipperary County, Ireland

Student artwork in school cafeteria

Mrs. Neill had the opportunity to spend some time with Secondary School Principal Mary Butler.  Mrs. Butler is a "lifer" from Ursuline Thurles just like Mrs. Neill from UA Wilmington.  Mrs. Butler shared all of the amazing happenings at Thurles including the artwork above (completed by a student), their amazing win in field hockey (their strongest sport), and their 500-student music academy led by Sr. Cecilia.  It was an incredible visit and certainly not the last time that Ursuline Thurles and UA will connect.  Mrs. Butler presented Mrs. Neill with a beautiful copy of their yearbook.

Mrs. Mary Butler, Principal at Ursuline Thurles presents
Amanda Neill with school momento

Ursuline Secondary School in Thurles entrance

Opportunity: Africa Conference

Last Friday, 8 Ursuline Global Scholar nominees attended the Opportunity: Africa Conference at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Wilmington.  Ursuline was invited by Senator Chris Coons to participate in this transformative conference alongside influential businesspeople, government officials, and world leaders all unified in their commitment to see the continent of Africa continue to grow and prosper. 

Keynote speaker Tony Elumelu spoke of the current issues facing African nations and discussed the importance of supporting business development.  The Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Program empowers young citizens to grow Africa from within, providing microloans and support to small business owners. 

Panelists from Heritage Link Brands, Save the Children, and USAID spoke about the importance of educating young women as they serve as the key influencers of domestic and foreign policies within the 54 nations of Africa.  Susan Markham of USAID remarked: “We cannot solve these issues (clean water, access to medical care, gender equality) without women and girls.”  Ursuline girls could not agree more and our nominees responded by wanting to learn more about the Let Girls Learn initiative co-sponsored by Save the Children and USAID. 

Our students networked with business professionals and navigating the exhibition tables, talking to leaders from Water is Life Kenya, Save the Children, Care, Results, Yes We Can and Start Up Africa.  The students who attended are: Jessie Falasco, Katie Shroyer, Carly Palkon, Noelle Shroyer, Lexi Romine, Ana Olszewski, Maggie Boyd, and Claire McFadden.

Our girls even had the opportunity to meet an Ursuline alumnae parent, Mrs. Mondoa - mother of Matanda Mondoa.  Mrs. Mondoa recognized the Ursuline uniform and introduced herself to the group, talking about her daughter's college experience and their recent pilgrimage to Cameroon.  The Ursuline network and family is EVERYWHERE! 

Thank you to Ursuline Lower School parent Brian Cunningham for the personal invitation from Senator Coons’ office.  We look forward to many more opportunities to connect Senator Coons with Ursuline. 

How will YOU change the world?

As the new school year gets underway, our Middle School team wants to know how you will be the change you want for our world? 

Stay tuned as our amazing Middle Schoolers grapple with the same question.  

Feeding the families of Los Polverines

This morning, we gathered in the parish hall and packaged rice and pasta to deliver to families in Los Polverines. 

After packaging 40 bags, we loaded into the van and headed out to the families in Los Polverines.  It was a hot morning and walking through the village was emotional as we had just danced with some of these families the night before. 

We visited the families and offered them each a bag of pasta & rice. Families were very grateful for our generosity. 

This afternoon, we visited two Piura parishes in the center of town and had some ice cream to celebrate our last night here. The churches were beautiful - simple displays of faith.

We are so grateful to Padre Joe and all of the incredible community members who have welcomed us to the Santisimo Sacramento Parish for the past week. It has been an incredible experience that has left an indelible mark on our hearts. 

Water is Life

Our day started with a tour of Madre Del Buen Consiglio - the school sponsored by Santisimo Sacrimento Parish. We visited all of the high school classes, which were students aged 13-16. 

The girls took turns answering questions about life in the USA. The kids were interested in learning about the ages of the girls, the languages they study in school, the sports & instruments they play and what they like to do in their free time. Our delegation did a great job singing Ursuline's Alma Mater for the oldest students in the school. 

After singing, we headed to the indoor court where the girls played a rowdy game of handball. UA spirit and tenacity was in full gear as our girls quickly learned the rules and took on their Madre opponents. 

We finished our morning with a tour of the kindergarten, 1st grade and special education classrooms where we gifted them with some of the school supplies with brought from home. They were thrilled! 

In the afternoon, we were invited to participate on a special mission to deliver water to the Monte Castillo neighborhood where we cleaned houses yesterday. The water supply in Monte Castillo has been cut off for a few days due to the fact that the truck that typically delivers purified water to the village had broken down. Families were forced to drink contaminated water or go without - neither of which are options we were comfortable with. 

So, we loaded into a truck with a handful of other volunteers and headed to Peru's version of Costco - Macko. We purchased 65 jugs of water for less than $100 US dollars and loaded up the truck. 

30 minutes later, we were in the heart of Monte Castillo delivering two jugs of water to some of the houses. Many were the houses that we had the privilege to clean yesterday. The families were so grateful, inviting us into their homes and thanking us with hugs and smiles. 

No person should live without access to clean water. No one. 

To cap off an incredible day, we headed out to Los Polverines village after mass to have a cultural fiesta. We watched great traditional dances and kicked up our heels with the kids from the neighborhood. It was a festive celebration for this lovely community.