Carlow, March 17, 2023. The St Patrick’s Day festival in Carlow welcomed SETU’s President Prof Veronica Campbell as Grand Marshall of the parade this year. SETU students from various clubs and societies as well as staff and their families joined Prof Campbell in the parade under the theme “A Place for You” to celebrate with the community that Carlow is now a university town, welcoming a vast and diverse student body locally, nationally and internationally.
Speaking at the event, Prof Campbell said ‘It’s an honour to lead the Carlow St Patricks’ Day parade and celebrate the efforts of many people in the community here in helping to establish South East Technological University. As the first university in the south east, we have an exciting platform to establish our community as a centre for innovation, opportunity, and growth. Through outstanding learning and collaboration, we aim to transform the ambitions of learners, researchers, and businesses across the south east and beyond. The Kilkenny road campus in Carlow is a major employer in the town and will see further development in the coming months with the opening of the new 4,750m2 corporate support services building, providing additional space for staff such as international student support, human resources, admissions, communications and other professional support services within SETU. You may have noticed in the parade today that our signs talked about SETU being ‘a place for you’, so whether you are eighteen or eighty, whether you want to study part time or full time, there is a place and a course for you in SETU and I hope we see the many young children that I saw along the parade today on campus in the years ahead’.
Also representing the university were members of the Irish Dancing club, the Indian society, the peer mentor group who provide support for first year students, the Nigerian society and the salsa dancing group. Sport was represented by a Ukrainian soccer team formed by members of the SETU Ukrainian refugee engagement taskforce. They were joined by many staff and students from the university. Shruthi, an International student and member of the Indian society said ‘I am studying for my masters in data science, it’s an amazing course and it’s brilliant to have the opportunity to learn the latest technologies. The lecturers are very friendly and helpful. This is my first St. Patrick’s Day parade and I’m really enjoying the crowd.’
Despite a rainy start, the sun came out and SETU staff and students brought cheer, colour, plenty of dancing and the promise of great things to come for Carlow as a university town.