Loreto Secondary School | 10 February 2023

Inclusion Committee: Diverse Voices

Diverse Voices

An important job of the Inclusion Committee is to give everyone a voice. Sometimes we might unintentionally overlook the voices of those from a minority group and miss a valuable chance to learn more about our wonderfully diverse school community. In this new regular feature, we hope to share the interesting stories of students from diverse backgrounds.

As we prepare for Multicultural Week on the 27^th of February, we hear this week from TY student, Alicia Omo who will represent Nigeria.

Name: Alicia Omo

Age: 15

Year: TY, 4.2

Country of birth: England

Parents Country of birth: Nigeria

Tell us about your homeplace:

Even though I was born in England, I would identify Nigeria as my home country. My mother left Nigeria in her 20s, but both my parents have instilled in me and my two siblings a love for the culture and traditions of Nigeria. My parents speak Yoruba in the family home, one of the many native languages of Nigeria. While I don’t speak this language myself, I understand what my parents are saying. The food we eat at home reflects the culture of Nigeria such as jellof rice and pounded yams. We listen to Afrobeat, which is a genre of African music. We are also close with another family in the community from Nigeria.

My favourite memory:

Two years ago, I attended a wedding with my family of a Nigerian couple in Dublin. It’s a really special memory for me because I haven’t had the chance to visit Nigeria yet but at the wedding, I felt more at home than I ever had as I was surrounded by people I could relate to. The guests wore traditional Nigerian clothes, and the bride and groom wore elaborate clothes woven with gold and black for the Christian ceremony.

My experience of Multicultural Week:

I like to take part in Multicultural Week because it shines a light on all the different cultures in our school and it is fun to show off the wonderful food and clothes of my home country.

Life in Nigeria:

My mother left Nigeria because she could not get work and she felt that the government of her country did not run the country well. It is not run in a democratic way. A small number of people hold all the wealth and power while the vast majority struggle to make a living. My father was lucky to secure a good job in Nigeria. He works in a bank and loves it there but visits us regularly. He always brings spices and items from home that we can’t easily get in Wexford when he visits.

What Nigeria is bringing to Multicultural Week this year:

My partner Zinzile and I are focusing on clothes and food for this year’s celebrations, and we look forward to celebrating with all the other cultures!

Life at the moment: Life is good here in Wexford and Wexford is my home now, but I look forward to visiting Nigeria one day.

If you would like to feature in ‘Diverse Voices’, please contact michellejordan@loretowexford.com

Chief Commissioner Awards – report by Sophie Mooney, Katie Beaver and Aoibhe O’ Gorman

On the 28th of January 2023, we were given the opportunity to go to Trinity College to receive our Chief Commissioner Awards. The CCA is a set of challenges set up by the Catholic Guides of Ireland for girls aged 12+. These challenges are to help improve your team working skills, ability to try new things and to help get you more involved in your community.

Some of the challenges were promoting environmental awareness, trying new outdoor activities, writing book reports and going on hikes.

We started the process in the Spring of 2022 and worked on the challenges until October. We then submitted our finished projects and were called back for an interview with the Chief Commissioner. If your project was approved, you were invited to attend an award ceremony to receive your award. The awards given were gold, silver and bronze. The ceremony was held in the dining room of Trinity College.

We feel that this project helped us become closer to our friends and community. It was an enjoyable experience, and we were honoured to have been given the opportunity. This was made possible by our brilliant leaders, Emily, Sue and Nicola in the Summerhill Girl Guides. If you are ever given the chance to be involved in the CCA, we highly suggest that you take part as it was something we will never forget.