Wider Horizon Programme
This page will introduce you to the seven participants from Co Leitrim. The seven young individuals come from all over Leitrim. Lucy from Carrick-on-Shannon, Christine from Carrigalen, Yvonne from Ballinamore, Claire from Dowra, Patricia from Ballinaglera and our two male participants, Enda and Brian both hail from Drumshanbo. If you click on any of the names above you can meet each individual and find out what they have been doing before now and what they would like to do when finished the programme. Below is a picture of the seven Leitrim participants enjoying their course.
Hi, my name is Yvonne. I am 18 years old and I am from Ballinamore. I would like to do a child care course in the near future. I have already done one course in childcare. It was the IPPA course, which tells you almost everything you need to know about children from babies onwards. I done one week of work experience in the local crèche and I loved it. Although I have not got the proper qualifications needed I am unable to work there full time. I will return to the crèche next week to gain a further two weeks experience.
My name is Claire.
I am 21 years old. I am from
a rural part of Co. Leitrim, which is just outside Dowra. My
hobbies are reading, working with computers, walking, football and singing.
I have been a member of the Church Choir for ten years.
I have just completed a National Certificate in
Vocational Training, which included the following:
F
Information
Technology
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Computer
Applications
F
Typewriting
F
Communications
F
Teleservices
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Office
Administration
F
Word
Processing
F
Database/Spreadsheets
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French
I would like to work in a receptionist or secretarial
type situation because I enjoy meeting and helping new people.
While I am in Pittsburgh, I would like to obtain a work placement as a
Hotel Receptionist because I would like to gain experience in Customer Care.
On my return, I hope to gain employment in the tourism industry.
While in Pittsburgh I hope to gain practical experience in customer care and a placement dealing with the public would be benefical.
My
name is Lucy.
I have two
children, girls, aged four and five.
We lived in Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh for three years, where they were
born. While
living here I took part in a three-month course.
As part of this course we did Team Building, Communications, Working with
Others and Basic First Aid.
Being a single mum and living away from my family, I decided to move back
to Co. Leitrim.
Growing up I had numerous part time, evening and weekend work.
Some of these jobs included, childcare, housekeeping, waitressing,
restaurant management and clothes making.
With
no formal school exams I decided to further my education by going back to school
to do my National Council Vocational Awards (NCVA).
As part of this course I studied and passed the following modules:
Text Production
Word Processing
Book Keeping - Manual and Computerised
Database
Spreadsheet
Business Calculations
German (Basic Level)
Work
Experience
As
part of my Work Experience I was placed with the Landmark Hotel, a local hotel
where I worked as an office assistant.
The experience was very beneficial to my course, as I was able to avail
of and further my study of the applications in my course.
When my placement was complete I was furnished with an excellent
supervisors report and an offer to come back and work part time for the summer.
The 21 participants will be travelling to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on July 17 for six weeks work experience. While there they will be staying in the Hawthorn Suite. Mostly, the participants are looking for work in the Customer Care area or Teleservices
Work
Experience.
The participants on the Wider Horizon
are starting their work experience on the 25th of June 2001
for two weeks. They are being
placed as follows:
Lucy
Leitrim County Council Carrick on Shannon
Christina Jet Wash
Carrigallen
Enda
Leitrim Observer Carrick on Shannon
Bryan
Molloys Pub Drumshanbo
Yvonne Lisnagat
Creche Carrick on Shannon
Claire
Leitrim County Council Carrick on Shannon
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Work Experience
Hi,
my name is Bryan. I am 19 years old and I
am from Drumshanbo. I would like to
work at something to do with sports. I am interested in outdoor pursuits and
would like a work placement in this. I
play for the Drumshanbo football team called Allen Gaels. I play for the under
21’s and the junior team. We won
the minor championship last year (2000).
I
went to the Leitrim County Council for my work experience.
While there, I was answering phones, filing, looking for files.
There was only one problem, when I was trying to help someone who came in
looking to view their files, there was always someone there who said "It' s
OK Claire, I'll look after this person".
This really annoyed me as I wanted experience in Customer Service, which
I did not get much of, but apart from that it was absolutely great.
I done my
work experience in Lisnagot crèche in Carrick-on-Shannon. I worked 9-6,
Monday-Friday. It was really good
experience for me. My boss was really easy to work for and all the rest of the
staff were nice as well. I would love to work there full time as I know what it
is like now. I was shown how to
deal with kids that throw fits for attention.
I think I have gained all the experience needed for this type of work and
hopefully in the near future I will do level 1 on childcar
Enda's Experience
While
taking part in the Wider Horizons programme we were required to do 2 weeks work
experience. I worked in the Leitrim
Observer newspaper, Carrick-on-Shannon. While
there my main duties were filing, organising credit notes and invoices, and
getting the papers ready for the post. I enjoyed my time in the Leitrim Observer immensely as all
the staff were very friendly and helpful to me especially on my first day.
Patricia.
As part of the wider horizon programme, I done two weeks
work experience I did my work experience with the North Western Health board in
Carrick On Shannon, while I was there I worked, in Opthalmics, Birth, Death, and
Marriages registration section, Medical Card Section, and then spent three days
in the Accounts Section. My work
mainly consisted of typing, filing, photocopying, looking up information to be
issued on certificates, and opening new files for accounts. I enjoyed my two weeks work experience and wouldn’t mind
working there again full time if I got the chance. While
in Pittsburgh I will be working in Dial America Marketing Inc, I hope to get
experience in customer care, improve and expand my computer skills and my
communication skills, and see a different culture.
Hi, I'm Lucy, we're now in week 10 of our programme and I've just completed my two-week work experience. I worked in the Sanitary Services Department in Leitrim County Council. While there I was able to use some of the applications I have studied in the past. I was shown how to use the franking machine and how to deal with incoming post. I also got to type up some letters to be sent out. I set up new files and did a lot of photocopying. Although I enjoyed my placement I would not like to work there.