For Immediate Release
CONTACT
For general information and liaison to St. Cecilia’s College:
Dominick Murray, 410-978-4337
Andrea Vernot, 410-948-1891
Northern Ireland Teens, “Ambassadors of Peace,”
Visit Maryland for St. Patrick’s Week Festivities, March 13-18
BALTIMORE (March 6, 2009) – A delegation of 44 students from County Derry in Northern Ireland – representing 12 high schools and colleges in the region and accompanied by Derry Mayor Gerard Diver – will visit Maryland next week to participate in St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Baltimore, including the city’s annual parade, and meet with political, educational and cultural leaders in the region.
Last year, Gov. Martin O’Malley had invited St. Cecilia’s College – a school for performing and visual arts in Derry – to showcase Northern Ireland’s reinvigorated economy and cultural heritage by sending a youth delegation to Maryland. The students selected for the trip have been called “Children of the Peace Process” by John Hume, Nobel Peace Prize winner (1998) and founder of Northern Ireland’s Social Democratic and Labor Party.
The group intends to meet and thank U.S. politicians, organizations and others “who have kept the faith with Northern Ireland during the bad years,” said Aisling Conaty, a spokesperson for St. Cecilia’s College.
After their arrival on Friday, March 13, the students, ages 16-19, will make a mid-day visit to the University of Maryland at College Park. They will tour Baltimore on Saturday, stopping at Fort McHenry, the Hampden neighborhood and the Baltimore Museum of Art.
On Sunday, March 15, the students will participate in Baltimore’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. They will also present a public concert of traditional music and dance at a parade day brunch at the Camden Club in the B&O Warehouse at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. For ticket information, visit www.irishparade.net.
Monday, the group goes to Annapolis, where they will visit the State House, U.S. Naval Academy and downtown Annapolis. They will also meet with Gov. O’Malley and present a program of traditional Irish music on St. Patrick’s Day Eve in the State House Rotunda.
On Tuesday, St. Patrick’s Day, three of the students will open the day’s session of the Maryland Senate. The group then goes to Washington, D.C., to visit the Northern Ireland Bureau and the Smithsonian Institution.
They return to Baltimore on Wednesday for a visit at the Baltimore School for the Performing Arts, the Peabody Conservatory and Library and a trip to the American Visionary Arts Museum.
WHAT: Irish student performers, “Children of the Peace Process,” participate in St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Baltimore. They will also visit Annapolis and meet with Gov. O’Malley. Three members of the group will open the March 17 session of the Maryland Senate.
WHERE: College Park, Baltimore, Annapolis and Washington, D.C.
WHEN: Friday, March 13 through Wednesday, March 18
NOTE: Students will be traveling with Derry’s mayor, Gerard Diver.
CONTACT: For general information and liaison to St. Cecilia’s College
Dominick Murray, 410-978-4337 or Andrea Vernot, 410-948-1891
Art Casserly, St. Patrick’s Day Parade chairman, 410-735-2045
Joanna Cox, parade brunch tickets, 410-235-0269
###
Sign up for our free travel e-newsletter highlighting the great things to see and do in Maryland!
