On Wednesday the 18th of September 2024, the Department of Ancient Classics hosted the fourth edition of the Careers with Classics event. The event, supported by the Careers and Employability Service, was held in the Callan Building on the Maynooth University North campus, and was attended by almost 100 pupils from schools all over Ireland, the largest audience so far.
This initiative, designed to bridge the gap between third level institutions and secondary schools, was launched in 2021 with the goal of showcasing the broad range of professional paths that are open to a Classics graduate. Over the course of the past four years, we have seen numbers of pupils attending grow consistently: this year several cohorts of fifth- and sixth-year pupils attended the event from Holy Faith Clontarf, St Peter’s College Dunboyne, Bremore Educate Together Balbriggan, and Gorey Community School, to name a few.
Eanan Strain from the Careers and Employability Service at Maynooth presented the results of the 2024 Graduate Survey and illustrated the significance of some interesting figures about the employment fields and salary range of Classics graduates. We then welcomed two Maynooth University Classics graduates, Theresa Ryder and Pamela Moran, who kindly shared with us their professional journey after leaving Classics into, respectively, creative writing and legal publishing. Theresa Ryder graduated with an M.A. in Classics from Maynooth in 2013. She is a writer of fiction, memoir, poetry, plays and essays. She is a recipient of the Molly Keane Creative Writing Award, Bealtaine Emerging Artist Award, and selected for the Irish Writers Centre Northern Soul Roadshow 2024, which is an ongoing collaboration of 20 Irish writers who aim to promote the arts across borders. She is a professional member of the Irish Writers Centre, Words Forum, the Irish Writers Union, and Irish PEN. She is currently working on a memoir aided by an English Literature Bursary from the Arts Council of Ireland. Pamela Moran is Senior Publisher at Thomson Reuters Round Hall, Commissioning Editor with responsibility for driving both the Irish front list and Sweet & Maxwell’s Private Client list for the UK. She studied at Maynooth from 2001 to 2007, completing her Undergraduate Degree in English and Greek and Roman Civilisation, before pursuing a two-year MA in Ancient Classics, alongside which she also completed a three-year degree in the Ancient Greek language. Pamela has worked in publishing since her graduation from Maynooth.
We also welcomed Ben Morse, Manager of Teaching-related Industrial Engagement and Strategic Relations for the School of GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh. A 2012 graduate of Edinburgh’s MA in Classics. he has previously worked across the University in diverse sectors including Supercomputing Centre (EPCC), Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Communications and Marketing, and Student Recruitment and Admissions.
Emily Lefebvre, who kindly contributed her message via video interview, is a yoga teacher in Vancouver, Canada, and has been an avid learner all her life. She completed a BA Hon Greek and Roman Studies at University of Calgary in 2003 and an MLitt at Trinity College in 2006, both in Classics (and part of a PhD!) before moving into her current field of movement and meditation.
A few key takeaways from this year’s sessions are: graduates are much more likely to do well at a degree they enjoy, rather than at a degree that they choose with a view of future employment; a very broad range of jobs are available to Classics graduates, to whom any door is open because they study a niche, challenging and multidisciplinary subject; communication and critical thinking emerge as the key skills that a degree in Classics provide: these are among the top five skills sought by employers in any professional field. Classics graduates stand out among others as exceptional communicators, are trained to foster and promote a passion for lifelong learning and develop a unique ability to adapt to different working environments and paths of life.
You can watch the full event here.