ACCESS, COMMUNITY MENTORING & COLLEGE AWARENESS

Elayne participated in the new Higher Education Authority's programme in 2019 which aims to promote higher education and diversify institutions. This involved following a programme of introductory workshops and delivering them to a selected school (Old Bawn) along with engaging in events and receiving mentorship training. She featured on the panel with six other ACCESS students from other Irish institutions to present a speech on the Progress Review of National Access Plan with Minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor in December, 2018. She has been an advocate for ACCESS in NCAD since featuring as a guest performer for 'Celebrating 10 years of ACCESS Programme' in December, 2015 (as a first year student of Fine Art) and a guest performance of an original work entitled:  Fakes and Manners at the European Access Network Silver Jubilee Conference held in UCD, June, 2016. Elayne hosted two students from second level schools to shadow her and facilitated workshops for ACCESS DAY with second level Collinstown 4th & 5th year guests, Semester 2, 2019. This final involvement in these aspects of the ACCESS programme as a BA graduate marked her decision to progress into NCAD's School of Education to pursue an art educator career via Professional Masters in Art & Design Education.