Ms. Mulvihill retires as principal of Our Lady’s College
The world was a very different place when, in 1977, a young Geraldine Woods walked through the gates of Our Lady’s College, Greenhills, for the first time, as an excited second year student.
It was a year in which Joe Dolan and Elvis Presley were vying for No.1 in the Irish charts and McDonald’s opened its first restaurant on Grafton Street. All over the world, sci-fi fans were introduced to a young Luke Skywalker with the very first Star Wars movie. And just like Luke embarking on the first of his epic adventures with ‘a new hope’, so too Geraldine, in remembering her early days in the school, recalls a feeling of anticipation having found her place, having found a sense of ‘home’ in Greenhills.
She notes that for her parents’ generation growing up in Drogheda, Our Lady’s College was an elite, fee-paying school in the town until the introduction of free secondary education in 1967. Geraldine describes the great value her beloved parents, the late Gerard and Evelyn, placed on education for their family and for this she is very grateful.
Following several happy years in the school, and on completion of her Leaving Cert, Geraldine undertook a Science degree in UCD and the Higher Diploma in Education. Her first teaching experience was in Loreto Abbey, Rathfarnham where the young Ms. Woods was the only teacher of first year Science (quite unusual at the time). In the summer of 1986, while Geraldine was preparing to return to Dublin to take up a new teaching position, a vacancy in the science department of Our Lady’s College became available and the rest is history!!
She reflects that apart from a three-year career break spent in the US with husband John, she has been involved with Greenhills from 1977 to the present whether as student, teacher, parent, head of year and latterly as principal. She also acknowledges the many busy summers spent in Greenhills working with great friend and colleague Aidan Greene on the annual Greenhills summer camp. Geraldine remembers with a lot of fondness, the camaraderie and fun enjoyed with the stand-out memory of the infamous Greenhills water slide improvised with washing up liquid and hose pipe!!
Her time spent in the U.S. was busy and fulfilling. Geraldine completed a master’s degree in chemistry at DePaul University in Chicago and assisted in the Science faculty tutoring undergraduate students and doing editorial work on the Journal of Great Lakes Research, a multidisciplinary journal that publishes on a range of topics related to the natural and social science of the world’s great lakes and their watersheds. During this time, Geraldine’s two children Declan and Sinéad were born, and in September 1992, she returned to Greenhills where she taught Chemistry, Biology, Maths, PE, Religion and Computer Science for many years.
In reflecting on her love of science and passion for teaching, Geraldine describes her great joy in having had the privilege of time spent in the classroom, revelling in the enthusiasm of students and remarking how, as she describes, they “made me better as a teacher”. She uses the phrase “a wonderful place’ frequently in her descriptions of Greenhills, noting the special type of relationship that flourishes between teacher and students, even with those who might try to ‘bend the rules’ from time to time!
When invited to highlight particular mentors and colleagues who have had a lot of influence on her throughout her career, Geraldine reflects on her years of association with Frances O’ Regan, firstly as a Maths student in Ms O’ Regan’s class and later as a colleague collaborating and achieving many successes in the Young Scientist competition. She also remembers the late Noel Lyons who was her English teacher and a huge inspiration in her later career and the late Frank Mooney who was her Leaving Cert Chemistry and Biology teacher. She feels very privileged to have had so many wonderful teachers who always gave so generously of their time and talents and made a difference in the lives of their students.
Geraldine’s role as Head of Year, a position she held for ten years gave her, she says, an even deeper insight into the myriad issues affecting students and their families. She acknowledges that it provided a very sound preparation for the multi-faceted role of principal.
Taking up the leadership role in 2010, Geraldine points out that the challenges facing the principal today are significantly different. She commends her predecessor Pádraig Byrne and former deputy principals Dónal Lynch, Ann Mulligan and Elizabeth Mc Nally, for the encouragement and support they provided to her in her early years in the role. She also wishes to commend her colleagues on the current senior management team Cecil Conway, Ronan Coone and Teresa Brennan for all their hard work, kindness and support over the term of her principalship. They are a great team to work with and always do their very best for the school.
Geraldine acknowledges the challenges and opportunities associated with Ireland’s changing demographic, the pervasiveness of social media in students’ lives and the lasting impact of the global pandemic on the education landscape. In expressing her vision as a teacher, she stresses that it has been her mission to educate students in ways relevant to their lives and to “do for other children what I hope someone might do for my own”.
When a young Ms. Woods first crossed the threshold of Greenhills in 1977, the Presentation Sisters were a guiding and influential presence in the life of the school. Geraldine describes the values and vision imparted by the sisters as inspirational, something that was caught by teachers and students alike. “We absorbed the ethos from them” she remarks, adding that the sisters often cared for students in quiet and unspoken but very practical ways.
As her time as principal draws to a close, Geraldine says her hope is to be remembered as someone who is very grateful to Greenhills for the opportunities it has provided, and as someone who has sought to give something back in return.
Above all, she emphasises how amazing the students of Greenhills have always been and admits that she will cherish every single day she has spent in the school.
Her advice to students is to embrace all the chances that present and to face challenges unafraid. She reminds students to ask for help and advice when needed and to meet every challenge with a smile. “Don’t let anyone tell you that you aren’t good enough or that you’re not able to do something. You set targets and you work to make them happen”.
In looking to the new school year, Geraldine wishes staff and students continued success. She wishes to thank all of the staff for the many years of shared experience, collegiality and friendship and wishes incoming principal Mr. Paul Bryce every success in his new appointment.
All in the Greenhills community wish Geraldine, husband John, and family long health and happiness in this new and exciting chapter in her life.
Comhghairdeas, a Ghearóidín, agus gach dea-ghuí don todhchaí ó gach éinne i gColáiste Mhuire, na Cnoic Ghlasa.
