Community Links Programme - creating opportunity for all

‘When I applied for my course here in DIT I was really excited, it was all I wanted to do. However, Dublin was over 300km away from my home town and the thought of going to a new county and city like Dublin on my own was a frightening thought.

Luckily enough my mother found out about the HEAR programme. She gathered all the necessary information and sent it off for me. I didn’t think much more about going to Dublin I just concentrated on getting the points in the leaving cert. After the leaving cert was over I began to think about Dublin again. I really wanted to get accepted into my course in DIT but none of my friends had applied for any colleges in Dublin, so I kept thinking of heading to Dublin on my own. The day I got accepted I had mixed feelings. I was delighted with my achievement as was my family but we both shared the same worry about me going to Dublin, a place I had very rarely been too and it was to become my new home. I waited hard on the access letter the following week and I was in disbelief when I received conformation that I had got it. It relieved a lot of worry from my parents but I was still uncertain.

All access 1st years had to start college a week before everybody else. As a result, the following week when I started college properly, the amount of people I knew in the college was shocking. It made me feel almost at home. All the access students were so friendly and we all looked out for one another. I’ve had a great year in college and the access programme has been a great help to me and has made this year a lot easier for me economically, sociably and academically. The grants have paid for my bus fare each week. We’ve had numerous outings at Halloween and Christmas which I believe brought us that bit closer together as a group. Also any subjects that I had difficulties with throughout the year, all I had to do was meet with my Project officer and she arranged help for me.

I’ve made some great friends over the past year both in and out of the access programme but the start that they gave me all the way back in September I am grateful for, so thank you all very much and can’t wait to see you all back here next year, hopefully!(“,)..’