Arcadia Ireland

What a great day yesterday was! As we come to the end of our UCD STEM Summer Research programme, we wanted to give the group a good send off! 

The day started with a trip out to UCD to meet with the students and view their poster presentations.  Twelve students spent eight weeks abroad doing research and working in the lab on projects in their chosen STEM fields. The program features hands-on research projects conducted with personal oversight and guidance from faculty mentors from UCD, who work closely with students to direct their continued growth and development in students' chosen topic. The projects culminate at the end of the term in the preparation of a research paper that students then present.

We finished the evening with a final farewell meal with these upbeat, enthusiastic, ambitious and determined twelve! Studying abroad in a pandemic was truly stepping out of a comfort zone. These students didn't have the luxury of hopping on a plane every weekend to visit places like Paris or Berlin. Nor did they have the chance to listen to traditional Irish music inside the comfort of a cosy Dublin pub. No, they were forced to learn local, to watch as Irish people did, the country re-open!

They quarantined in their rooms for five days and did it with good attitude, they climbed mountains, swam the forty foot, watched the Euros, ordered spice bags from their local restaurant, learned the skills of Gaelic games, explored Dublin by bike, visited Wicklow and Donegal and got to know their local area. They experienced the Irish heatwave of recent days/weeks (it was short lived) and saw how excited the Irish become when the temperature goes beyond 65 degrees!  In a way, they demonstrated something that we have been trying to encourage students to do for a long time. Learn Local. Get to know Ireland.  

We thank our UCD STEM Summer group for being who they are. They were our first students to welcome back to Ireland since Spring of 2020 and like many in our position, we were apprehensive about how this would all go. At one point we even wondered if our students would make it to Ireland! The preparation by Arcadia University in Dublin and in our US office was key in helping the students feel ready for the differences they could expect. I believe that the Arcadia difference was demonstrated above and beyond through our excellent team work and communication (health and safety, programme managers, Dublin staff) to get students ready to study abroad in a pandemic.   We met this group a few times on zoom before they even stepped on the plane to come to Ireland. It was evident from the start that this group were mature, determined and ready to embrace whatever came their way. 

Hats off to you all! You did your homeschools proud and you made us at Arcadia University in Dublin two very happy people! 

What a Summer and what a group!