A student's diary of a year of activism

Every year I make my goals and one of my main goals for this year was to set the foundations for the circles in life I want to be in when I am older. Since a young age, I always have felt and respected the fact of setting goals and striving towards becoming a better version of yourself each year

So far, 2024 has been a fundamental year of growth and I am proud of what I have achieved. I finished the first year of my law degree and have recently received my final grades, which have left me in a comfortable position to start the second year of my degree. 

Along with college grades, I have had success with winning Best First Year at the University of Galway, and represented my college in the finals. To end my college year, I received the Access Champion of the Year award from the Union of Student Awards of Ireland. Doing the work and being involved in college life made me connect and form friendships with like-minded people and made me come out of my comfort zone.

I have been an activist now for the last four years and I am fortunate enough to be given opportunities to speak at different events throughout the year so far. The first event I was asked to speak at this year was the Minceirs Whiden national event which took place in Athlone. The event was based around politics and the emphasis on the importance of voting in elections. 

I was later asked to speak at the No Shame Event in Longford, which was organised by the Involve Traveller Group in Meath and gave a talk on my journey in life so far on topics such as education, mental health, struggle, progression etc. One of my proudest moments this year was getting an invitation to speak at the Seanad in April. I spoke on education for the Traveller community while bringing in my experience and success in education so far. 

Days like that are inspirational, as I would hope someday to be a sitting TD in the Dail. I also spoke in Dublin at the Rosas organisation's Bread and Roses event in Liberty Hall. I was invited to speak in the Mansion House in Dublin for the National Voter Registration Event Day and recently was given the opportunity to speak at the Network Irelands Women's Awards in the Hudson Bay Hotel in Athlone. Sometimes I do have to pinch myself to recognise that being invited to speak at these prestigious events for people to hear my input, opinion and story is real because it is something only my 15-year-old self could dream of.

At the start of the year, I was given the amazing opportunity to be the youngest of 21 activists across the country selected for the residential Alice Activist Bootcamp in Dublin. This was such an amazing opportunity and experience, and I was given valuable knowledge on how to go forward in my activism journey and how to run campaigns while hearing from inspirational speakers throughout the weekend such as Senator Lynn Ruane and activist Ailbhe Smyth. I was also on an advisory group for a year and a half looking at the impact of Covid-19 on children across the country. This was nationally launched earlier this year and I was given the opportunity to speak on the panel on the day of the launch. Last March, I was also fortunate enough to go on an exchange to Italy with the Meath Traveller group to exchange heritage and culture with the young group of Italians.

A surreal achievement for me this year was the launch of the podcast with Spunout, which I am producing with some friends. Our podcast is called 'Minceirs Paving the Way' and we have released a variety of our episodes with many more to come. We are speaking on topics such as mental health, domestic abuse, ableism, education, women's rights and sport. We have a variety of guests also, like Senator Eileen Flynn. It has been an amazing experience seeing a project we have worked on for over a year being brought to life. 

A special achievement this year was being featured in the Irish Examiner on International Women's Day as 100 women changing Ireland today. Last month, I also was accepted onto the CIE youth board for transport, one of 14 members in Ireland. This is a big step for me in making the impact I would like to make on public transport and roads. 

Something that I have wanted to do for many years now is give back to the Women's Refuge in Castlebar. I have undertaken the Mayo Women's Mini Marathon and the Achill Half-Marathon and the money I have raised on my GoFundMe page will be donated to the women's refuge in the upcoming months.

I have many exciting things waiting for the remainder of the year such as starting my second year in college, starting my position as the Equality, Compliance and Guidance Officer for the Law Society at the University of Galway, attending the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis and speaking on motions, speaking at events that I have been asked to and developing and growing as a person. I am happy with what 2024 has brought so far but am eager to grow and achieve more before 2024 ends. Every day is a step closer towards the final goal.