David’s words of wisdom prove an inspiration to over 200 local students
OVER 200 students from Coláiste Bríde, Meánscoil Gharman and Coláiste Abbáin in Adamstown gathered at The Riverside Park Hotel last week for an inspiring seminar organised by local life coach David Hasslacher.
The idea of the seminar, David said, was to ‘empower teenagers to help themselves’ and he gathered some inspiring speakers for just this task.
Fine Gael’s Minister Paul Kehoe opened the event, telling the audience of his tough journey to get to where he is today. He stated how appreciative he was of the people of County Wexford for voting for him and explained the potential that careers in the Defence Forces offered young people.
Next up was Sam McCauley who spoke of how his father established a family pharmacy on Rafter Street in the 1950s and how this had grown to become the largest independent retailer of its type in Ireland. Sam said that he himself had scraped through his exams to become a pharmacist and spent some time in Canada, where he met his wife, before returning with the goal of creating a pharmaceutical retail brand. He stressed the importance of having the right staff and said that his success was possible for any member of the audience if they were prepared to work hard for it.
Christy Kavanagh of Kavanagh Christmas Trees spoke of how he found school difficult and battled with alcoholism. Despite this he has gone on, with his wife Kathleen, to create one of the most professional Christmas tree growing and marketing operations in Ireland, selling 70,000 trees per year. He was followed by Jimmy Kearns of Kearns Fruit Farm in Curragraigue. He spoke of how he inherited 23 acres from his parents and he and his wife Susan decided that the best way forward with a small amount of land was growing fruit. They now have 6 acres of glass houses, 30 acres of polytunnels and employ up to 70 people and are the third largest fruit producer in Ireland.
Finally John O’Connor of Enniscorthy Enterprise and Training Centre explained some of the services that they offer and how they nurture entrepreneurial spirit and encourage people to follow their business ideas.
In total, the talk lasted two hours and David is hopeful that the young people may have taken something from it.
‘ The feedback has been excellent,’ he said. The aim was to give the students the opportunity to listen to and learn from successful people who had achieved their goals through honest hard work. These were local people who had made it, very often from difficult starting places.’