Matt Corbett, past Student Union President and graduate of NUIM discusses the Maynooth Access Programme and his experiences at university and beyond.
My name is Matt Corbett and I graduated from Maynooth in 2004 with an Arts degree. At the start it was actually, it very positive because, y'know, coming from secondary school, it can be quite daunting coming to a big university; you're not sure what to expect. But very quickly there was a lot of efforts made from all different parts of the university, for example the Access Office and the Students Union to try and integrate students and to try and put you close to people who are in a similar position.
Q: What is the Access Programme?
A: The Access Programme is a supportive environment for students who are from non-traditional backgrounds to benefit from college and to maximise and reach their full potential. I felt that it was very beneficial for me and certainly any students, any friends of mine that have been here previously and also before me and in the same year all spoke very highly of it. It supports students throughout their time here and gives them advice and assistance and I really felt that I personally benefitted from it.
Q: Did you attend Orientation week?
A: I certainly did, yeah. It was a great advantage that we did go on it because we met other people who were on the Access Programme so before we actually started in college per se, we had already made friends with the other people who were in the Access Programme and they were people who were coming from exactly the same experience as us. So I engaged in it and it was a very good programme as well. It gave us a taste of what university life was going to be like.
Q: How did you become Student Union President?
A: I started off being a class rep for my history class in first year and through that I was involved in the Students Union representing students and working with the university. So I continued to go on and do that in my second year and third year and I became more and more involved and interested in the work of the uni and in third year I was encouraged by my friends to stand for the election for President of the Students Union and thankfully that worked out so that was a great experience as well.
I felt I was able to give back a little bit to the university because I appreciated so much that had been done for me here and I suppose I was inspired by the people I worked with and the people that were around me and my friends and it was great to be able to work at a deeper level with everything that goes on and the good work out here in Maynooth.
Since graduation, I initially went and did my Higher Diploma in Education to practise teaching and I went straight into teaching then. Since then I'm currently a History and English teacher actually in the school that I used to attend in Deansrath Community College in Clondalkin.
I'm thoroughly enjoying what I'm doing at the moment and I feel that the experience and the work from Maynooth and everything else has benefitted me so I'm definitely enjoying the work that I did.
Q: Would you recommend NUI Maynooth?
I would highly recommend Maynooth to anybody. In terms of the teaching and learning, the facilities, the student life - it's absolutely phenomenal. Anybody that I talk to that have also left university since - straight away it's nostalgia about great stories from Maynooth and anybody who subsequently went elsewhere for a postgrad or anything else - not to say that they didn't benefit from their time elsewhere, but they always felt there was a more, kind of local community environment in Maynooth and that's something that I think people always say, about the local environment. Everybody kinda knows a lot of other people's faces in Maynooth. There's a great relationship here.
It was very good right from the start. You always felt that there was going to be support around you and I always felt I made the right decision.
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aw sir your gas :L
ErinFarrellx 1 month ago
aha my name is Matt Corbett!
xemoxfatex1972 8 months ago
I was at NUIM the same time as Matt.Sound fella
Midfield10Maestro 1 year ago
hehe funny,
love it..!
rasherkav 2 years ago
aw matt....
what a ride....
mellowkitty83 2 years ago
hahahaha go on mister c lol
4578129 2 years ago
Haha Corbett How Embaressing How Did Ye Keep A Straight Face Doing Dat:D....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
marissaobeirne 2 years ago
guwan sir
Ron11238 3 years ago
ha jaysis hes my tutor in school
THEDONOFDUBLIN 3 years ago
watch thoses P's and Q's Matt...
you dont sound like your non-traditional, haha...
get yourself back to Towers wud ya...
BrianBoru18 3 years ago