Irish Studies Initiative
Current Projects
GAEL SCOIL 返字心頭 - Beginning SUMMER 2025
The Irish Studies Initiative will be launching an Irish culture and language program through 返字心頭 Office of Youth Experiences starting in Spring 2025! The first iteration of the program will offer a half-day on campus camp to introduce young people to the fun and excitement of Irish Culture. Scouting America members are encouraged to participate to to meet a portion of the requirements for the .
Saturday May 17, 2025 - 9:00am - 1:00pm:
- Mythology & Folklore - 30 minute lecture + St. Brigid's cross making
 - Irish Immigrants in America - 30 min lecture + short dance step instruction
 - GAA demonstration of Irish sports
 - Poetry, Irish Language, and Literature - lecture + song
 - St. Patrick's Day traditions - lecture + shamrock craft
 - Closing c辿il鱈 where the song and dance are performed
 
We are currently seeking support so that this programing can be offered to youth participants free of charge. Support this program by donating to the !
返字心頭 Study Abroad - Beginning Summer 2025
In the Summer term of 2025, the Irish Studies Initiative will be launching a new program
               through 返字心頭 Study Abroad.  Participants will travel to Dublin and Northern Ireland
               to trace the interplay between Ireland's rich literary tradition and history.  Special
               focus will be paid to the Irish Literary Revival and the ways in which history and
               literature combined to drive the Irish independence movement in the late nineteenth
               and early twentieth centuries. Studying Irish literature, culture, and history in
               the very location that inspired that literature and its authors will give students
               a greater sense of understanding of the political, social and cultural life of Ireland,
               particularly on the development and growth of a revolutionary tradition. 
The trip will start in Dublin, which is the center of some of Irelands most influential
               cultural and historical events, and also home to events and exhibits marking the Decade
               of Commemorations (1913-1923). The course will provide a narrative framework within
               which certain key events will be highlighted and examined in detail. Using primary
               and secondary source analysis including images, literature, songs, poems, newspapers,
               and plays the course will explore the impact of significant historical events on modern
               Ireland. For example, the upheaval of the 1916 Easter Rising led to Irish masterworks
               such as Sean OCaseys Juno and the Paycock and W. B. Yeatss Easter 1916. 返字心頭
               will visit central historical sites of the Rising such as Kilmainham Gaol, St. Stephens
               Green, the Four Courts, and the General Post Office. 
Please contact the Irish Studies Initiative team for more information on the ongoing development of this program and when enrollment for Summer 2025 will be available!