Dunshaughlin students praised for Solheim Cup catering role

Transition year (TY) students at Dunshaughlin Community College played a major role in helping to cater for some of the thousands of visitors to the recent Solheim Cup at Killeen Castle. The firm appointed as catering company for the prestigious golf tournament, John Coughlan Catering (JC Catering), was anxious from the start to involve the local community. Damien Sheridan, HR manager at the company, said: "We all wanted this to be a successful event, especially for the local area. We wanted and needed to get the local community involved right from the start, so we devised a recruitment campaign that would benefit the local region and help younger people get work experience." Mr Sheridan said he approached Helen Comisky, the TY co-ordinator for Dunshauglin Community College, who was delighted to help and instrumental in getting the ball rolling. "After doing a presentation at the college, it became clear that many of the transition year students wanted to be a part of the biggest event held in Meath and we ended up with 62 names of eager students ready to help," he said. "Once we had the volunteers, we set up a unique training programme which would benefit the college and students, resulting in them all becoming HCCAP trained and gaining valuable real work experience. "The students all attended the induction day at Killen Castle on Saturday 17th September; we went through all aspects of the site, safety and also site orientation. We followed this up on Monday 19th with comprehensive food safety and hygiene training at the college; we also covered dealing with the public, presentation and appearance and other valuable life and job skills," he added. "When they arrived on site at Killeen on Wednesday 21st September, they were issued with company uniforms and were allocated job roles," added Mr Sheridan. "Over the next five days, the students were working with the experienced on-site JC Catering staff, they were always ready to learn and assist and proved to be a major asset to the company and the event in general." opportunity Barbara Muldoon, JC Catering's operations director, said the Solheim Cup was an "opportunity to promote what is good about Irish cuisine and to demonstrate to the thousands of overseas guests that Ireland is really at the top of the culinary tree". Dunshaughlin Community College TY co-ordinator Helen Comisky said the school was delighted to offer its TY students to help in the event. "The benefits they gained from the induction, training and real work experience will certainly stand them in good stead and give them real confidence to try and achieve more in the future," she said. "The 2011 Solheim Cup brought so much to Meath, and created such a positive reaction from the local community, it was good for Dunshaughlin Community College, good for Meath and great for the students." John Coughlan, JC Catering's managing director added his own words of praise: "These students were wonderful, they did everything and more we asked of them, they represent all that is good about Irish youth and we were delighted to have them on board at The Solheim Cup." To recognise them for their contribution, a small ceremony took place at the school last Friday to present the students with their certificate of completion, HCCAP certificates, some Solheim Cup memorabilia and gratuity vouchers. John Coughlan Catering is also making a donation to the school to acknowledge its assistance.