St. Macartan’s College and Monaghan Collegiate to welcome President McAleese to Monaghan. 

St. Macartan's College and Monaghan Collegiate School will welcome the President of Ireland Mary McAleese to St. Macartan's College on February 16th to mark the schools' joint Peace III World War 1 project.

This project saw 20 students and 6 teachers from St. Macartan’s College and Monaghan Collegiate School investigate the involvement of young people from both traditions from the North Monaghan area in the Western Front during World War 1.

The project involved contact with the Clogher Historical Society, Monaghan Co. Library and Monaghan Co. Museum  as well as contact with war museums in Belgium.

Students and teachers from both schools met on a regular basis to develop the project. This involved the students studying World War 1 its causes and consequences. After looking at the event on a macro scale the students studied this global event at a local level. This involved a study of local media from the period to study how the War was reported to Monaghan people at that time. This media is available in the Monaghan Co. Museum.   

It is hoped that the contacts established in the development and organisation of the project will be used to facilitate other schools in border regions in their organisation of similar projects.

 The project to date.

Introducing students to the project – This involved bringing students and teachers from both schools together to introduce the topic. Students outlined their knowledge about W.W. 1 with a view to teachers ascertaining the extent of this knowledge. From experience teachers know that differences of opinions do exist between students from each school regarding this topic.

This project challenged the students to look at WW 1 from another perspective. The project explored WW 1 from a young person’s perspective, endeavouring to discover why young people from both sides of the community left North Monaghan to fight in Belgium. What reasons they had in common e.g. sense of adventure, a job and steady income, fighting for the freedom of small countries etc.

Students and teachers travelled to each other’s schools for this section. This in itself was a peace building tool as students from St. Macartan’s College and Monaghan Collegiate rarely have opportunities to work together or to visit each other’s schools.
 

Introduction to Research – The Clogher Historic Society was employed to teach the students research skills with an emphasis on the use of materials which are available in local and County Libraries. Students were also introduced to the resources available at Monaghan Co. Museum. This section of the project saw students travel to the Clogher Historic offices and archive, followed by travel to the Co. Museum, local Libraries and the Co. Library at Clones.

1. Sub-division of the group -Students from both schools were divided into groups based on where they come from i.e. Monaghan Collegiate students and St. Macartan’s students from Monaghan town specifically researched the names of people from the Monaghan town area who travelled to Belgium to fight between 1914 and 1918. Once again this was an opportunity for students from different religious backgrounds to meet, get to know each other, work together ona common task and through this build positive relations not only between pupils from different schools but alsobetween neighbours of different religions.

2. Further Research -Studentsdeveloped a list of names with a view to developing a database which will show what happened to those who left the North Monaghan area to fight during W.W. 1.   Students also endeavoured to trace what happened to some of those who travelled. Local historian Kevin Cullen has recently completed research on people with Co. Monaghan connections who died during the First World War. These names will be on displayin the hall for the President’s visit with the soldiers name and his birth place shown. The President will be presented with a specially bound book containing these names.

3. Preparation for the trip to Belgium – Student came together to plan where they would like to visit during their trip to Belgium. This was based on the possible burial place of some local people or a battle site where some locals may have fought and / or  fallen.

4. Trip to Belgium – This saw the students travel together to Belgium to see the war sites selected by themselves during their research.

The project created an ideal opportunity for students from the border minority group to interact and work alongside the border majority group on a project which will afford young people an opportunity to challenge and be challenged on their understanding of a shared history.  

The students involved were responsible for driving this project. They were responsible for organising the visits to the local libraries, museums and to the Clogher Historic Society offices. This involved close contact between the schools regarding timetabling, bus hire etc. By taking ownership of the project and making it their own, a strong working relationship and camaraderie was developed.

The previously mentioned trip to Belgium was the highlight of the project. 20 students from the two schools two History teachers Ms. Wendy Sloan and Mr. Dermot Mc Aree and the then principal of Monaghan Collegiate Mr. Michael Hall and principal of St. Macartan’s Raymond Mc Hugh travelled to Belgium.

During their visit to Belgium the group visited Belgium and visited the burial places of people from Monaghan who died in Flanders. The students also had an opportunity to dress as Australian soldiers and re-enact the day in the life of a soldier in 1916. Alongside the work, students had an opportunity to visit Brussels, Bruge and Iper where they had a chance to relax and get to know their new friends from the Collegiate

Apart from gaining a more in-depth knowledge of World War One, the students feel that they have gained a new appreciation for what people from both Communities sacrificed in the war.

The experience of working together on the research and co-operating together on the trip to Belgium has helped build common experience and a common belief regarding the cost and futility of war. Physically seeing the numerous monuments and graveyards made the experience all the more real they felt. A new awareness of the moral issues surrounding war as well as the valuable work being carried out by the Peace III organisation was an aspect that they had not anticipated.

On a personal level the students realised that they saw what they had in common with the students from the other school much more than the differences between them. New friendships were formed and have been built on.

This project will involve over 20 students and 4 teachers from St. Macartan’s College and Monaghan Collegiate School investigating the involvement of young people from both traditions from the North Monaghan area in the Western Front during World War 1.

The project will involve contact with the Clogher Historical Society, Monaghan Co. Library and Monaghan Co. Museum as well as contact with war museums in Belgium. 

 Students and teachers from both schools involved will meet on a regular basis to develop the project. This will involve the students studying World War 1 its causes and consequences. After looking at the event on a macro scale the students will study this global event at a local level. This will involve a study of local media from the period to study how the War was reported to Monaghan people at that time. This media is available in the Monaghan Co. Museum.   

It is also envisaged that the students will travel together with their teachers to visit sites of historic interest in Belgium during the final term of the 2009 – 10 school year.

The outcome of the students work would include visual presentations as well as the students informing fellow students from their schools about their findings. The visual presentation will include a website and class resources for teachers who may want to teach this topic to classes in the future.

 It is hoped that the contacts established in the development and organisation of the project could be used to facilitate other schools in border regions in their organisation of similar projects. This project can also form part of the students Leaving Certificate History examination programme.

The groups involved in this project will include minority communities, young people, parent associations, churches, voluntary and public sector organisations and their staff.

 This project is supported by