EXPRESS
UCC
Tuesday, 07 January 2014 | www.uccexpress.net | Volume 21 | Issue 8
The best of the year to come Inside Verge
VICTORIES, DEFEATS AND DRUG CHEATS
GATHERING MOSS P14
P10
Picture: Darragh Kane
Quercus aims to grow ‘mighty oaks’ Eoghan Lyng | Arts & Literature Editor @EoghanLyng
Musician Breffni Molloy, Fergus McAuliffe, environmental science researcher, and Clare and UCC Hurler Shane O’Donnell at the launch of The Quercus Talented Programme
Students raise over €60,000 for charity in first term Stephen Barry | News Editor @StphnBarry
Fundraisers by charitable societies, the Students’ Union and other groups have yielded in excess of €60,000 since August for both local and international charities. With large-scale fundraising drives taking place over the Christmas period, charitable causes were to the forefront on street-corners across Cork. Among those on the streets were the Surgeon Noonan Society choir, who also performed on Today FM. Run voluntarily by fourth year medical students since 1977 in memory of UCC graduate Tim Noonan, the society has raised €44,000 in the past five months. This included a total of €11,000 raised during the Jazz Weekend. With a goal of raising over €100,000 across the academic year, Surgeon Noonan’s proceeds will
go towards rural hospitals in SubSaharan Africa, where the students will subsequently go on placement next summer. The recently founded UCC Hope Foundation raised €5,050 in term one while Cancer Society collected €3,000, €1,200 of which was raised in advance of February’s Relay for Life which has a fundraising goal of €50,000 this year. Homeless causes benefitted through the Simon Society (€1,763.72) and St. Vincent de Paul Society (€1,699), with November’s SVP Homeless Week raising €1,163.50. The Societies Guild estimates that societies raised €192,771.60 for charitable causes over the 2012/13 academic year based on what auditors declared. Other fundraising societies included Islamic (€1,680), Friends of MSF (€1,000) and Barnados (€700), while SUAS and Engineers
Without Borders reported focusing on development programmes and awareness raising in term one. Meanwhile the Students’ Union estimate that their Charity Fight Night will total around €5,000. This figure will be shared by Breakthrough Cancer Research and the Cork University Hospital Children’s Ward. €1,086 was netted by the Haiyan Fundraiser for the Red Cross in an event which was held in collaboration with the Hot Beverages Society and members of the Filipino community. Over €500 was also raised by other SU fundraisers for the CUH Children’s Ward and Movember. In the weeks before Christmas the UCC Security team raised €1,800 with a Christmas Candlelight Walk through main campus in aid of Abbey’s Wish to Walk. Meanwhile a UCC staff member and ultra-runner took on a ‘Twelve Marathons of Christmas’ challenge in
the shop window of Mahers Sports on Oliver Plunkett Street. Jo Fearon ran 42.2 kilometres on a treadmill each day from the 13th to 24th of December, while setting a Guinness World Record in the process for the challenge which was inspired as a healthier variation of the twelve pubs of Christmas. The Programme Manager for Agri-Food Development, Fearon completed each of the 12 marathons in less than four hours, covering over 500km in that 46hour period on the treadmill. However the marathons were timed to fit into her breastfeeding schedule for her four month old daughter Liadán. The extreme endurance test was undertaken by the mother of two in aid of the neonatal ward of Cork University Maternity Hospital, and raised €12,169.60.
University College Cork has launched a new scholarship scheme which will offer gifted students up to €10,000 per year. Titled ‘The Quercus Talented Programme’, the scheme offers students an opportunity to apply for scholarships in a number of areas such as sport, academia, innovation/ entrepreneurship, creative and performing arts and active citizenship. Quercus (the Latin for acorn, following the mantra of growing from an acorn into a mighty oak) has evolved from the popular High Performance Athlete Entry Scheme (HPAE) which was initiated last January. The HPAE`s award ceremony took place last month as part of the UCC Sports Scholarship Awards. The ceremony awarded six students, including nineteen year old Mallow native Doireann O’Sullivan, a two-time All-Ireland champion in Ladies Gaelic Football. Alongside O`Sullivan, Luke Hickey (race walking), Phil Healy (athletics - 100m & 200m), Adrian O’ Sullivan (basketball), Gary Wilkinson (hockey) and Andrew Harrington (rowing) were also awarded the inaugural HPAE Sports Scholarships for 2013/14. The HPAE scheme received great demand as eighty students applied for the venture. Launched by UCC President Dr. Michael Murphy, the scheme proved so successful it has been been rebranded as The Quercus Talented Programme. The Quercus announcement was intended to complement and coincide with the Entrance Scholarships Awards, which were announced on December 3rd. “At UCC, we believe in creating an environment in which academic excellence can be combined with opportunities for personal development and independent thinking,” said Dr. Murphy.
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