Mulcahy Scholarship recipient has Mayo roots
THE Aisling Irish Center in Yonkers, New York, in association with Denis Mulcahy, is co-sponsoring annual scholarships for American high school students to the Celtic Irish American Academy in Galway. The scholarship will be known as the Mulcahy Scholarship.
This year, the first recipient of the Mulcahy Scholarship is Conor James, a student at Don Bosco High School in Ramsey, New Jersey, and son of Sean James, formerly from Ballina, who operates The James Trading Group in the tri state area.
Conor is reported to be enjoying himself immensely at the Celtic Irish American Academy in Galway.
The adage that one person can make a difference is often bandied about more in hope than certitude. Denis Mulcahy certainly proved that one person can make a huge difference when it involved the lives of Catholic and Protestant children during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
In 1975, the Mulcahy brothers, Denis and Pat, natives of Rockchapel, Cork, and members of the NYPD, along with Denis’s wife Miriam, a native of Aughnasheelin, Leitrim, founded the organisation known as Project Children. The basic premise of the organisation was that there was another reality besides the sectarian mindset of hatred and bigotry that these youngsters were being encultured into, and thus it was possible for Catholics and Protestants to live harmoniously side by side.
The programme kicked off in 1975 with six children, three from each side of the sectarian side, spending the summer together in Greenwood Lake. Over the next four decades more than 23,000 children from the North would cross the Atlantic to spend the summers with over 1,500 families all over the US.
To say that the experience was life-changing for these youngsters would be a gross understatement; in fact, it may have been life-saving.
Over the years Denis’s efforts have been widely recognised with an array of national and global accolades, including being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Though the original format of Project Children has been discontinued, Denis continues to direct an internship programme for Irish university students who work with a variety of US companies during the summer months.
Over the years of intense involvement in Irish and American affairs Denis is acutely aware of the bonds that link both countries together. So in 2015 when Brian Fahey and Dr. Johanna Cleary decided to launch the Celtic Irish American Academia in Galway, Denis Mulcahy was given the honour of presiding at the official opening.
The Celtic Irish American Academy is an international summer school for American high school students whose mission is to engage these students in an intellectually stimulating and deeply enriching experience while also exploring their Irish heritage and its intimate bonds with the US. The course is designed into a number of modules: Ireland’s literary giants, Ireland’s and USA’s economic ties, the intertwined history of both countries, Irish culture and arts, Irish sports and finally a module devoted to service and volunteering.
Denis has been on the board of directors of the Irish Aisling Center since it was established more than 20 years ago. Naturally, the Irish Aisling Center is honoured to co-sponsor the Mulcahy Scholarship along with Denis as a means to mutually enhance the cultural exchanges of Irish students on both sides of the Atlantic.
It is hoped that the Aisling Center will afford more American high school students in the future an opportunity to experience this uniquely enriching and transformative experience.
Now if you had the Mulcahy Scholarship listed on your resume, I’m sure it could lead to a conversion about how one person truly made a huge difference. Now could you make a difference?