St Dominic’s receive €100,000 grant boost

By Maurice Garvey

ST DOMINICS’S College in Ballyfermot received a massive boost this week with Salesforce officially announcing a €100k grant to fund science and technology programmes at the school.

The fund will accelerate St Dominic’s drive to provide science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programmes, development training, mentorships and IT infrastructure for both students and teachers.

St Dominic’s Principal Mary Daly welcomed the fund from Salesforce.org, the philanthropic arm of Salesforce, as a “marvelous opportunity” to invest in engineering as a potential career for students.

The school were identified as a recipient for the fund after submitting a detailed application last September.

“There is a deficit of females in that area, not alone in Ballyfermot, but worldwide,” said Ms Daly.

“We were approached last September by Salesforce to apply for funding. We were identified, as they saw we are a school that tries out new initiatives.

“We have had an increased interest from our students in recent years in the area, with one student currently doing an internship with Google and another with the Science Gallery.

“Not enough girls are doing engineering, but research tells us that is where jobs are being created.”

Salesforce.org, a nonprofit social enterprise, aims to empower communities by delivering educational technology solutions at affordable rates and drive volunteer engagements in the community.

Since 1999, the American cloud computing company has powered more than 30,000 nonprofit and education institutions worldwide.

Established in 1956, St Dominic’s is an all-girls Deis Band 1 which in recent years has been identified as “good practice.”

Ms Daly feels the fund will help support the school’s drive to provide Stem related courses to students.

She continued: “Salesforce will provide training and upskilling to students and staff. Students will now have greater access to digital devices to enhance their Literacy and Numeracy skills, participate in Coding, Coder Dojo Clubs, ECDL and staff will receive upskilling regarding best practice for the integration of ICT in teaching and learning.”