Young, gifted and DCU

It is Europe’s largest Educational Outreach programme, but DCU’s Centre for Talented Youth (CTY) also recognises the importance of children finding their ‘tribe’.

Indeed, this combination of the academic with the social may be one of the reasons behind the centre’s phenomenal growth.

Established in 1992, CTY had 120 students for its first intake; in September 2021, this is expected to be roughly 7,500, up from 6,500 this academic year.

Along with its presence on DCU campus – their students would have been a familiar sight to anybody travelling through campus on a Saturday in pre-COVID times – they also have 10 satellite centres nationwide.

“I don’t think people expected the centre to still be here now or as successful as it has been,” says the Centre’s director, Dr Colm O’Reilly “It was actually a very good thing for DCU at the time and since then it hasn’t really been replicated anywhere in Ireland.

CTY’s success will come as no surprise for his colleagues and the many people who know Colm. Working for CTY since 1998, the married father-of-one from Artane in north Dublin, was appointed director in 2004. A three-time graduate of DCU, Colm studied Accounting & Finance in DCU, graduating in 1993 before taking the HDip in UCD.

He returned to study for a Masters in Gifted Education, which provided an opportunity for him to work for the centre. He joined fulltime in 1998 and hasn’t looked back.

“I was appointed director of the centre in 2004. Then I decided I would do the Education Doctorate in St Pat’s (now DCU Institute of Education) and I did that to brush up on my research skills and kind of expand what we are doing at CTY,” he says.

His approach has paid dividends. Under Colm’s leadership, the Centre has forged partnerships with Arizona State University (ASU), and John Hopkins University in Baltimore. Under the ASU partnership, Irish CTY students have participated in exchange programmes and studied in the US.

In 2018, CTY hosted the annual conference for the European Council for Higher Ability, further enhancing its reputation in the niche area of gifted education across the world.

“CTY is aimed at bright children who could do with an extra challenge and we give them those courses in DCU...they can come in here and find their tribe.”

Speaking about children with higher ability, Colm is keen to dispel misconceptions about what ‘gifted’ actually means.

“CTY is aimed at bright children who could do with an extra challenge and we give them those courses in DCU.

“People associate ‘giftedness’ with Einstein and Mozart, and people like that who are obviously gifted but they’re way out there,” he says.

“What we’re looking for are people who are really interested or passionate about subjects or things they might like to study.

“And they can come to DCU to take them – that could be things like medicine, law, journalism, computers, biotechnology. We utilise everything.

“That’s the academic side, but the other real benefit students get is socially meeting people who are similar to themselves. It enables them to feel more comfortable with their ability and do well in relation to that,” he adds. “They can come in here and find their tribe.”

Jane Last (BA Journalism, 2002) is Head of Digital Communications at the DCU Communications Office @ Jane Last