Rotary Careers Connect Reaches 500 Student Milestone at St Gerald’s
Castlebar Rotary Club’s Careers Connect Talks reached a fantastic milestone this week, with 500 students now having come through the programme across Davitt College, St Gerald’s and Balla Secondary School.
Fionnuala Byrne, Google
The latest talk took place in St Gerald’s on Wednesday (25th) afternoon, where students were delighted to welcome Fionnuala Byrne from Google.
Fionnuala is very much one of our own, coming from the well-known Byrnes’ of Spencer Street in Castlebar, and it was great to have someone with such strong local roots back speaking to students. She shared insights from her career journey and her experience working at a senior level in workplace and facilities leadership. Fionnuala has built an impressive international career and now works in a leadership role with Google.
The talk was extremely well received, with strong engagement from the students. It was clear that Fionnuala’s story struck a chord, particularly because it showed how someone from Castlebar can go on to work at the highest level in a global company – from Hertz, the Dept of Justice and Canada Life to Google.
To mark the 500-student milestone, the audience also heard a short overview of Rotary’s work over the years from Rotarian Professor Paul O’Grady. It was a nice way to pause and recognise the tremendous contribution Rotary has made to the local community over a long period of time.
St Geralds and Castlebar Rotary Club were also pleased to welcome Joe Carty, Principal of Castlebar Primary School to the talk.
The 500 milestone is a very significant one for the Careers Connect programme. Reaching 500 students is a real sign of the appetite that exists in local schools for hearing directly from people with real-world career experience. The aim has always been simple: to bring Rotary and friends of Rotary into schools to share expertise, offer encouragement and give students a broader sense of the opportunities that may lie ahead. Well done to Shane Bourke and his Careers Connect team on reaching such an important milestone.
A very big thank you to Fionnuala Byrne for giving her time so generously, and also to St Gerald’s Principal Seán Bourke and Sharon Geraghty for supporting another successful Careers Connect talk.
Onwards to 1,000!!
Shane Bourke with Fionnuala Byrne
