Dinosaur debate as Rose of Tralee visits Taghmon NS

Síofra Grant

The students of Taghmon National school were gathered in the Primrose room early in the morning of October 9 eagerly awaiting the arrival of Caoilfhinn Ní Choiligh, Rose of Tralee. For many of them, it would be their first time meeting the reigning Rose; for others, particularly the members of Crookedwood Camogie Club, it was their second.

The room erupted into applause as Caoilfhinn entered, excited chatter filtering through the various classes gathered as she was introduced by principal Hannah Marriott.

Caoilfhinn began by explaining to the children what the Rose of Tralee Festival entails. “I don’t want to say the word pageant, it’s not a pageant,” she clarified, “It’s a festival first and foremost and it goes down in Kerry.” She discussed the various events of the festival and drove home one specific point.

“You don’t have to be the prettiest girl, you don’t have to be the most talented girl, what it is, is an expression of Irish women.

“What makes us different, what makes us special, what makes us powerful.

“I would definitely recommend the whole adventure that the Rose of Tralee is to absolutely anyone and maybe we have a few Roses here today that would like to participate when they’re a bit older, and maybe some escorts too.”

Caoilfhinn had high praise for the escorts in this year’s festival, referring to them as her, “big brothers” who are instrumental to supporting the roses.

“They make sure we get to where we need to be and they do all the handiwork, lifting the chairs and running around the place, getting things we’ve forgotten and holding the handbags as well.”

Caoilfhinn said she enjoyed the activities she and her fellow Roses did in the lead-up to the festival, including crafting their own scents in Kilkenny. “We got a personalised perfume with our name to represent the qualities of who we are.”

Following Caoilfhinn’s introduction it was time for the Taghmon students to display their talents on the tin whistle. The kids performed wonderful renditions of the Kerry Polka and Maggie in the Woods.

Then it was question time.

The children had a variety of queries, and, starting off strong, one of the younger classes asked: “What is your favourite butterfly?” Caoilfhinn replied, the Blue Morpho butterfly, and that was an acceptable answer to the young girl who had posed the question.

There were a variety of animal based questions: one young boy asked what for Caoilfhinn’s favourite dinosaur, and when she went with the classic, T-Rex, it sparked a lively debate among the junior classes over which was better. Velociraptor and Triceratops were bandied about, but no final conclusion was reached.

One girl in sixth class then raised her hand: “Did you always want to be on the Rose of Tralee?”

“No,” replied Caoilfhinn. “I would have seen it when I was younger on telly and later on social media, and I looked up to these girls, they’re wearing these lovely dresses, they’re speaking so well, and they’re talking about their careers, their hobbies, the volunteering they do, and you really do look up to them.”

Caoilfhinn explained to her young audience what prompted her to try the Rose of Tralee, explaining that it’s important to push yourself out of your comfort zone.

“I actually have alopecia, I wear a wig, and I don’t know if you’ve ever seen anyone who looks like me but I never saw someone who looked like me when I was growing up.”

She removed her wig, the children continued listening, unphased.

“It was important when I was taking part that I represented this community, not just for alopecia, that’s the fancy word for hair loss, but for people who are going through cancer, young girls and young women, losing their hair can be something that really affects them.”

Aside from discussing her hair loss, other serious questions included: “Do you have a sister?” which received a lot of laughs.

The Taghmon students were only informed of Caoilfhinn’s visit that morning, and school principal Hannah Marriott said they are big fans of the new Rose of Tralee.

“They were hoping for a few weeks that she was going to come. We hoped from the beginning of the year but we got the date just last week, our parents association had organised it, so we were delighted when we heard she was able to come.”

“I think it means a lot more to them than any other year of the Rose of Tralee because it’s a local person, so it’s great for them.”

Hannah highlighted a moment that stood out to her during Caoilfhinn’s visit – story of how she embraced her Alopecia and found positives in her differences.

“I thought it was a really powerful message that she gave today. I thought it was excellent, really good for the children to hear, especially the ones in fifth and sixth class just coming into their teenage years.

“She’s promoting the idea that it’s okay to be different, you don’t have to look the same as anyone else, and I thought it was a fabulous idea that she suggested finding the positives in something that could be really difficult.”