Hoodies, Clipboards, Leadership: Trinity Comprehensive Students Lead the Way in Better Ballymun

On Better Ballymun Day, you can spot the leaders easily. They are the ones in hoodies, clipboards in hand, moving between teams, checking progress, solving problems and encouraging volunteers.

These are the Leaving Cert students from Trinity Comprehensive School in Ballymun, and for this one powerful day of action, they are not just participants. They are project managers.

Across Ballymun, more than 60 community projects take place, from tree planting and biodiversity work to painting murals, cleaning shared spaces and building community gardens. The initiative, developed by the students themselves, mobilises schools, clubs, organisations and residents to work together to improve their neighbourhood. Better Ballymun Day has grown into a major annual event, bringing together thousands of volunteers to take practical action and celebrate community pride.

But behind the scenes of every successful project is a team of young leaders making sure everything runs smoothly.

Learning leadership by doing

Each Leaving Cert student takes responsibility for a specific project. They manage volunteers, coordinate tasks and keep the work on track. Their clipboard becomes a symbol of leadership. It holds a checklist of materials, a list of volunteers, a timeline of tasks, and sometimes a reminder that a quick word of encouragement can keep a team motivated.

It is leadership that looks less like giving orders and more like supporting others to succeed.

This approach echoes the philosophy of Robert K Greenleaf, whose concept of servant leadership emphasises that the best leaders begin with a desire to serve. In this model, leaders focus on empowering others, listening carefully and helping people grow.

On the streets, parks and community spaces of Ballymun, that philosophy becomes real. Students are not just directing projects. They are supporting volunteers, solving problems and making sure everyone feels part of the effort.

A real world classroom

While the projects may involve planting flowers, painting walls or picking litter, the real learning runs much deeper.

Students are developing key life and career skills including

Project management through planning tasks, allocating resources and keeping work on schedule
Communication through briefing volunteers, coordinating teams and working with community partners
Teamwork through motivating diverse groups of people toward a shared goal
Problem solving through adapting quickly when plans change on the ground

As school principal Frances Neary explains

“Active citizenship isn’t just something you read about in a text book. It about picking up a paintbrush, a littler picker, putting on gloves and getting out there and making your place a better place. Making your place a Better Ballumun.”

Leading their community forward

Better Ballymun is about more than one day of activity. It is about empowering young people to take ownership of their community and to see themselves as leaders of change. The initiative gives students a voice and encourages them to actively shape the place they live.

And perhaps that is why the sight of those clipboards matters.

They are more than project notes. They are a sign that young people are trusted with responsibility. Planning projects, guiding teams and helping transform their community.

In Ballymun, leadership does not always stand behind a podium.

Sometimes it wears a hoodie, carries a clipboard and quietly gets things done.

Find out more at www.betterballymun.ie