Mercy Secondary School join the support programme Aspire 2

Mercy Secondary School join the support programme Aspire 2

By Maurice Garvey

MERCY Secondary School in Inchicore is the latest Dublin South Central school to Join Aspire2, the schools support programme funded and operated by the Irish engineering company DPS Group.

This is the sixth year of the programme, and Mercy joins Rosary College, Crumlin and two Ballyfermot schools, Kylemore College and St Dominic’s College, as well as four schools in Cork, to be involved in the programme.

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Janice Mc Garry, Aspire2 Manager, DPS Group with Michelle O’ Kelly, Principal of Mercy Secondary School and students Katie Gannon and Aoife Wall

 Janice Mc Garry, Aspire2 Manager, DPS Group, said: “It is a huge source of satisfaction that the students have been supported to fulfil their potential and many have progressed to further education and third level in arts and humanities courses, law, music, and biological sciences.

“Since 2015, more than 1,000 students in the Cork and Dublin schools have been assisted by Aspire2 by providing academic support, direct funding, and individual mentoring by DPS staff, who have volunteered their time to take part in the programme.

I am also delighted that some of our Aspire2 alumni have set up their own initiative, AweZoom Grinds, to support current students with online grinds and mentoring.”

Principal of Mercy Secondary School, Michelle O’ Kelly, said: “From my contacts with the other Dublin schools that are already part of Aspire2, I know it has made an enormous difference and we are very happy to be joining the programme.

“Education transforms lives and we are delighted to have the support from DPS to improve our students’ choices and help them to achieve their full potential, especially given the added challenges, that we are facing as a result of the pandemic.”

The programme enables schools to provide additional educational supports to students, including Gaeltacht scholarships, workshops, study related trips, site visits to pharmaceutical companies, ICT Supports and student bursaries.

Ms Mc Garry said: “It is very exciting that DPS has committed a further €1 million for phase two of Aspire2 to assist in the expansion of the programme.”

DPS is partnered in Aspire2 with University College Dublin and Technology University Dublin, Trinity College Dublin Access Programme, Maynooth University, and Rethink Ireland.

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