Roll of Honour Acknowledges Trinity Students’ Participation in Voluntary Activities

Posted on: 11 April 2011

Dean of Students’ Roll of Honour Encourages Civic Engagement Among Student Population

Over 300 Trinity College students were commended at the inaugural Dean of Students’ Roll of Honour ceremony in Trinity College recently (April 7th) for their participation in extracurricular, voluntary activity both inside and outside the College.  The Roll of Honour was launched by TCD’s Dean of Students, Professor Gerry Whyte, and aims to recognise the learning outside the classroom which students gain through extra-curricular voluntary activity.

The event’s keynote speaker, Dr Martin McAleese, said: “I am heartened to know that another generation of young people are committed to carrying on the proud tradition of volunteering that has always been such a vital part of Irish life.  May the role of volunteering in your lives be like the role of education in your lives – lifelong and enriching.”

Dean of Students, Prof Gerry Whyte with student volunteers Michael Prunty, Jessica Pitcher, Anne Cleary and Daniel Farrell.

Professor Gerry Whyte continued: “In Trinity College Dublin we are extremely proud of the extracurricular activity undertaken by students which ensures a vibrant campus and offers students diverse and multidimensional opportunities for learning, social development and personal growth.  The promotion and incentivizing of voluntary activities is one of TCD’s strategic objectives and the Roll of Honour is just one way for us to recognise student participation in those activities.”

Trinity College students engage in a great variety of voluntary activities.  The Roll of Honour acknowledges the contribution students have made to organisations and their peers through voluntary activities and gives students a chance to reflect on their experiences.  The benefits of this type of learning might be entirely personal to the individual, but there is also the potential to develop civic-mindedness and to be beneficial to either or both the College and wider communities.

Dr McAleese’s support of the Dean of Students’ Roll of Honour not only helps highlight 2011 as the European Year of Volunteering but also serves to underline how extracurricular, voluntary activities can positively impact on Irish life through unpaid formal and non-formal, social, cultural, political, interpersonal and caring activities.   The students each received a certificate in acknowledgement of their efforts at the event.