Tommy Collison

Arrived home on Friday afternoon from my three weeks at the Centre for Talented Youth (CTYI) in DCU.

I’m trying to balance writing this quickly to make sure I don’t forget anything important with making sure I’ve thought this post through to make sure that everything is correct.

I suppose we’ll start with a brief explanation of CTYI – it’s a 3 week residential (commuting is an option) course. You stay in the Larkfield Apartments, made up of two bedrooms, a kitchenette (no cooking appliances supplied save for a toaster and a kettle) and a bathroom. You take meals in the DCU canteen beside the Henry Grattan building and do activities in either the nearby buildings or the park adjacent to the sports building.

7.30 – Morning Call, must be awake at this time.
8.15 – Breakfast.
9.00 – Classes begin.
10:30 – 15 minute break. Brought to Spar nearby before returning to class.
12.00 – Lunch in the canteen.
13.00 – Classes resume.
15.00 – Classes finish. Go to quad and sign up for activity.
17.00 – Activities finish. Have RA (Residential Assistant) meeting and dinner. Free time otherwise.
18.30 – Study period.
20.30 – Study finishes, social time begins.
22:00 – Social time finishes. Must be in rooms.
22:30 – Lights out.

As you can see, it’s pretty regimental without much free time. Now, one could observe that the course is responsible for 200-odd teens and that strict discipline is required to keep everything running smoothly (which it did, well done) and you’d be correct, in my opinion. That’s why I fully co-operated with it all the time. Away from everyone though, I found myself despising my lack of independence and choice. There were times when I just wanted to drop everything and sit and read or chat with friends, something CTYI just couldn’t afford. I knew this and understood this controlling atmosphere, but that doesn’t stop me disliking it. It’s not that CTYI is a prison camp or Big Brother, it’s just that coming from the level of independence I enjoy in life into CTYI is a big difference and a big shock.

Of course, CTYI had its amazing moments: the course I did -Journalism- was phenomenal. Andrew Payne, who works as a communications consultant, taught the class and brought the 16 of us through all major aspects of journalism. From memory, we covered:

• Differences between tabloids and broadsheets.
• How headlines change an article.
• How the internet is affecting traditional journalism.
• Interviewing techniques and famous examples of same.
• Different types of features and how they differed from main articles.
• How the editing process works.
• Investigative reporting.
• The ethics of journalism.
• Tabloid methods of reporting (phone-tapping, the Fake Sheik etc.)
• Waiting to report out of respect versus being the first with a story.
• The line between the public’s right to be informed and a private individual’s right to privacy. We debated its existence to an extent.

We also watched All The President’s Men, Frost/Nixon, Sicko, Out-foxed, State of Play and Shattered Glass. All deal with journalists at work and I thoroughly enjoyed all of them.

The social aspect of the course was phenomenal too – I mean, not only do you have a group of youths of similar maturity and intelligence in DCU together, but don’t forget 15 other people are also interested in journalism so hanging out with them was also a blast. That is where CTYI really excels — why people love it so much and miss it and call coming there ‘going home’. I think the maturity is truly shown in how the students interact with the RAs (Residential Assistants – college students who act as big-brother/sister figures and make sure you’re enjoying yourself) – students found themselves talking just as easily to the RAs as the students.

I think the problems I had with CTYI (even calling them problems is unfair, though – these were definitely ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ issues). I’m fiercely independent who enjoys being able to make his own decisions and navigate his own life – CTYI just wasn’t my thing, is all.

Why not?

I was late to the party. The lovers of CTYI all share similar circumstances – they all started around age 13-14 and have been doing it for three/four/five years. For CTYI to rock your world, you need that. You can’t just do it for one year and expect to be as emotionally attached to the place as the ‘five year freaks’ :)

Is CTYI fantastic? Hell yes. Colm O’Reilly and the staff have created a unique phenomenal atmosphere which is fantastic. I found myself getting closer to the people I was already close to and getting close to entirely new people.

CTYI is a great course that I’d have no reservations sending my kids though – just send early to get maximum benefit.