Katelyn Hanna
I was a member of the Maynooth Feminist society from 2016 and we fought very hard to engage students in the call for abortion rights (two years before the 2018 referendum was even called). We organised 'Repeal Week' in early 2017 which was a week full of educational events such as 'legislation behind the 8th amendment' and 'cisnormativity and abortion'. As part of this week we also gathered anonymous abortion stories from Maynooth students and the drama society 'performed' them by reading them aloud to attendees of that particular event. It was a very emotional and important event. We invited speakers in for a panel event and organised a full on strike which saw students leave their lectures on 8 March 2017, engage in chanting outside JH and then a march down to the library where we tried to be as disruptive as possible. From there, the abortion pill bus, which had been travelling around Ireland at the time, stopped by and spoke to us on the side of the road. They told us that we were the most engaged student campus that they'd experienced, which we very proud of. We followed them into Dublin where we took part in the national strike for Repeal.
There were a lot of other intiatives and events we organised in the fight for repeal, but that week was particularly monumental.
I was awarded a Taught Masters Scholarship in 2017.
The reason I chose Maynooth was because I happened to be in my kitchen at home one day when the radio was on and they were discussing different colleges and mentioned that Maynooth was considered the friendliest college in Ireland. That is the reason I chose to go there and that was my experience.
I learned how to conduct research and think critically which has served me well and I think will continue to do so even more so now with the rise of AI and the far right.
Get involved in clubs and societies. They add so much to your college experience and the things you learn there will serve you long after you've left.