*St Patrick’s Comprehensive School principal, Mary Costello. Photograph: Joe Buckley
STAFF and students of St Patrick’s Comprehensive School in Shannon continue to be inspired by the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit of Ireland’s newest town.
Shannon native, Mary Costello returned from Donegal to become principal of St Patrick’s Comprehensive in November 2018. Proud of her roots in the town, she speaks with immense pride about Shannon and its story.
In her eight years as principal, Mary has observed a ‘quite significant expansion’ in enrolment numbers which now stands at 765 students. She is joined on the management team by deputy principals, Sharon Brooks and Ciara Golden.
Having been remarkably content as deputy principal of The Rosses Communnity School in Dungloe, Donegal, it was always going to be a special role that would entice Mary to come home and was in Shannon when her beloved father, well-known musician Pat passed away in April 2020.
Mary views The Comp as a microcosm of Shannon. “You come to Shannon and you have this burgeoning town with what looks like massive employment but within Shannon there is such diversity in our socio-economic situation so that you have the full spectrum in a school here. The biggest single difference is the diversity in The Comp and The Comp is a microcosm of Shannon itself, I grew up in Shannon where we had multi-culturalism, inclusion and diversity when those words weren’t part of the national vernacular but they were always here in Shannon.
“I was talking to a parent Hugo this morning, we’d be a similar go and I remember growing up in Shannon in Cronan Lawn and we knew Cronan Park as Chilean Park because the Chilean people were fleeing the Pinochet regime and came to Shannon, Hugo actually worked in Mincon which developed the bit which saved the Chilean miners back in 2010,” she added.
Of the 750 students in The Comp, there are 25 different nationalities. Teachers Ivana Zupa and Helena O’Sullivan set up the ‘Language Ambassadors’ programme which reflects the diversity in the school and is believed to be the only such programme in existence in an Irish school. “They invited students who wouldn’t have English as their first language or whose parents wouldn’t have English as their first language, when we have school events like Open Nights or an induction, the language ambassadors meet the families coming in the door and they will speak in their own language and can answer questions. It reflects the diversity in the school, we’ve socio-economic diversity, language diversity, different ethnicities, different religions and no religions, everyone is in the melting pot in The Comp, it reflects the broader town of Shannon. The language ambassadors celebrate all that is wonderful and good about the people in our school, it is not about difference”.
Sitting in her office, Mary’s pride for her native town is infectious. “When I grew up in Shannon, there was no old people in Shannon, nobody died in Shannon and if anybody died in Shannon it was a tragedy because it meant it was a young person, we didn’t have a funeral home or a graveyard because of that, The Comp very much reflects Shannon. It opened in 1976, the innovation and all that happens in Shannon, you think of the Free Zone, the work of Shannon Chamber, all of that is reflected here in The Comp, the first principal was Diarmuid Ó Donovan, through him the curriculum development unit was set up here in The Comp out of which came The Leaving Cert Applied programme which is an alternative Leaving Cert programme still on offer and recognises the main Leaving Cert didn’t suit everybody, that came from Shannon.
“I remember when I was appointed Deputy Principal in Donegal, I had to do the timetable and I knew nothing about Leaving Cert Applied, the joy I had in ringing Sile O’Driscoll down in The Comp in Shannon to arrange a meeting to find out about LCA and that it had come from Shannon, it is that kind of innovation and that is what’s happening above in The Industrial Estate, it is what Shannon Chamber are doing too by co-ordinating, supporting and leading. The school journeys alongside all of that, so many of our parents are working up there or are a part of it,” she added.
Now living in Lissycasey, Mary’s first role was as a English and economics teacher at the now closed Cahercon in Kildysart. “I did my first year back there in 1995 when Clare won the All-Ireland and when Shannon Chamber was established, I think we were the only school in the county opened after the All-Ireland, it was my first job so I was there. I spent a year there, then got a job in Donegal, I went for a year and stayed for twenty”.
Forty years ago, Mary was among the first batch of students in St Caimin’s Community School as Shannon’s second post-primary school opened its doors, The Comp had opened previously in 1966. “Growing up in Shannon, there wasn’t an accent because everybody was from everywhere, if anything the most dominant accent was a northern accent because we had so many people coming down from the North, what was very interesting of me when I went to Donegal was the Donegal people were saying because we lived an hour from the border in Derry and it was where I did my shopping ‘you wouldn’t know what it was like during The Troubles’ but I could remember growing up in Shannon, the time of the Hunger Strikes so as a town we’re hugely part of the history out that and how it has evolved, there’s fierce depth to this town and as a result in the school”.
Uniforms are not worn in The Comp but the school crest has two airplanes, an ode to Shannon Airport and its surrounds. Strong links with Shannon Chamber have enabled development in the school, with otherwise would not have happened. A careers fair in February 2019 organised by teacher Siobhan Hickey saw Shannon Chamber play a pivotal role and create relationships that have been maintained and benefitted the school. “We’ve fantastic contacts with Ei Electronics who are out on their own in terms of supporting the community, they came down for a visit at one stage, I had to close our astro turf, it was one of the first things I had to do because it was a health hazard with a ripped carpet so I had to close it, we had been doing fundraising, we hadn’t half enough and Ei came in and did the astro turf for us. Since then, the Mick Guinee Charitable Foundation gave two full scholarships to two of our students from last year, incredible scholarships for the next four years”.
Students are also regular attendees at the superb business lunches hosted by The Chamber in Dromoland Castle. This has led to collaboration between The Comp and Cook Medical and Berka Solutions to assist with potential cost-saving measures in the school on systems and infrastructure, both companies have offered invaluable assistance to the school. “For me as manager of the building, there’s the guts of 900 people connected to The Comp, in any company in The Industrial Estate with 900 people there would be a HR manager, facilities manager, a finance manager but that all comes down to our management of three so to have a company come in and give us private sector insight is phenomenal because we wouldn’t have that. We operate in a different way in the public sector, our business is the holistic development of the student but to get access to that expertise and adapt it to support what is going on in the school is incredible”.
From the hills of Donegal back to the energy and diversity of Shannon, there is nowhere else Mary Costello would rather be. “I’m a very proud Shannon person, I’m really proud of it, I don’t think we celebrate enough how unique a town it is, it was and still is a new town, we had to develop a personality and a community forged from the likes of Wolfe Tones GAA, the Scouts, the Shannon Musical Society who have staged every musical in The Comp, those partnerships have helped the town evolve. Shannon Chamber are giving a safe space for all the companies to come together to help someone with an idea look for support and for mentoring. In a climate where you could be despondent, we’ve the housing crisis and all that is wrong with the world but I’m very proud to be from Shannon and be part of The Comp where the future leaders and innovators could be coming from”.
She continued, “There’s a space up there in the Industrial Estate with entrepreneurs and innovators who will see the value in young people like that, it makes me very excited to be here and I wouldn’t be anywhere else and I absolutely loved Donegal but I wouldn’t be anywhere else but The Comp in Shannon, it is a brilliant place to be and a brilliant town with volunteers, entrepreneurs like Mike Guinee who saw value in Shannon, set up here and brought their families here, reared them here like my parents did so I brought my family back, it is a brilliant place to be”.
