LYIT Gaisce Society Wins National Award
The Annual Board of Irish Society (BICS) awards took place in the Titanic Quarter, Belfast recently and it was a national awards ceremony which recognises student volunteering and engagement activity in the third level sector throughout Ireland.
Letterkenny Institute of Technology was represented by two societies on the night, the LGBT Society and the Gaisce Society.
The LGBT Society competed in the category of ‘Most Improved Society’ in a small college and the Gaisce Society competed in the ‘Best Society in a Civic and Charity Field’.
Both societies faced strong competition in their respective categories, from colleges such as Galway Mayo Institute, Cork Institute of Technology and Institute of Technology Tallaght.
Unfortunately, the LGBT Society were narrowly beaten by Cork Institute of Technology’s Music Society, in their category but the LGBT Society President, Ian Smyth commended CIT on their win, and outlined the LGBT Society’s plans to continue their work with the Donegal Youth Service and to come back to the BICS Awards 2015 with a renewed energy.
The LYIT Gaisce Society was awarded the title of ‘Best Society in a Civic and Charity Field’ for their work in Thailand, volunteering in the ‘Garden of Eden Project’.
The ‘Garden of Eden Project’, Thailand is a community consisting of HIV/Aids sufferers, who have been marginalised by their home communities and live together in an area outside Bangkok and rely on volunteer support from groups, such as the LYIT Gaisce Society.
Gaisce Society members have assisted this community by carrying out improvement projects to the orphanage, by building a shed to shelter the cattle at night and building a fish farm to assist in giving this community financial independence .
The judges assessing the Gaisce Society’s application and portfolio, were astounded by the efforts by this group, and paid particular reference to the alumni who had also contributed over the years to this volunteer effort.
The Gaisce Society was represented on the night by;
• Catriona Kelly, Treasurer
• Conor Boyd, President
• Isobel Keenan, Secretary
• Riadh Egan, LYIT Most Outstanding Club Member 2014
This national award recognises the work of alumni and current students over the past 7 years and it highlights the truly fantastic efforts in the area of volunteering, currently taking place in the third level sector.
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