Like other young people up and down the country, Katelyn Cummins had a slightly husky voice and was feeling a tad tired on Monday of last week after an “absolutely unbelievable weekend” at Electric Picnic in Stradbally.
However, unlike her peers who were probably wrapped in a duvet or on the couch, Katelyn had just conducted a full round of engagements, including meeting members of Laois County Council, before Irish Country Living came calling to the family dairy farm at Castlemarket, close to Ballyouskill on the Kilkenny/Laois border.
It’s been a whirlwind few weeks for the 20-year-old apprentice electrician since she became the first Laois Rose to be crowned Rose of Tralee on 19 August, but she is determined to grasp every opportunity that comes her way.
“It’s been crazy. Everything has been going 90, but I’m absolutely loving it. I’m meeting so many new people,” she says, after a photo shoot on a Massey Ferguson in the fields, bathed in autumn sun with views of Ballymartin Hill. A few minutes earlier she brought in 100 cows for milking with her father, Noel, and mother, Siobhan, which included stopping the traffic for a time.
The eldest of three, Katelyn impressed many people in Tralee and beyond with her eloquent and determined advocacy for girls to go into apprenticeships and trades, emphasising that going to college isn’t for everybody.
To many, she represents a fresh and modern country voice – a lady who loves farming, camogie, her job, Macra, fashion, jiving and travel, to mention just a few of the topics that came up in our kitchen table chat.
Little did she think after jiving up a storm on the stage in Tralee that her next dance foray would be on the main stage at Electric Picnic. Her wide smile says it all, though. She revelled in her appearance with the Timahoe Male Choir in Stradbally, where she fittingly danced with Paul Dargan, who was a Rose escort himself more than 20 years ago.
“It was amazing seeing the crowd in the distance. It was something I’ll never forget,” she says in the family home, which is still bedecked with floral bouquets and scores of cards.
“So many people were asking me if I was nervous. No, I was so excited to just get up and see the crowd. And I think with this title, you just take everything in your stride and say yes to it all because you’re never going to get these chances again.”
Katelyn was also pinching herself with disbelief after meeting her musical favourites, Kingfishr, whose Killeagh anthem was the sound of the summer.
Laois Rose Katelyn Cummins. \ Claire Nash
Local homecoming
There’s been many highlights – from the Rose tour, Tralee and a local homecoming – but Katelyn is happy to be home on the farm, looking out at the fields and having a bit of normality. The Kilkenny native (the farm is just inside the border) does concede though that winning the Rose of Tralee hasn’t really sunk in yet.
A second-year apprentice in Alpha Drives in Portlaoise, she went back to work the week before our visit and is keen to balance the Rose role with her time in the workshop. “The lads are so supportive in my workplace, they’re really really good. There were questions for about half an hour on Monday morning and then back to work,” she says, laughing.
While some dismiss the competition as old-fashioned, Katelyn firmly bats away the idea. She points out the “sisterhood, the bond, the stories” and celebration of Irish heritage, saying that all of the Roses have different reasons for being involved. She went for the Laois Rose “for the craic and to make some new girlfriends” having watched it with her family every year.
“There aren’t enough words to describe how special and incredible the experience really is,” she tells Irish Country Living.
Describing herself as someone who loves being busy, she’s relishing the prospect of packed evenings and weekends for her Rose engagements in between work.
Then there is the small matter of four international trips to look forward to as well.
She’ll be heading to Frankfurt in Germany in November, Poland in February for a humanitarian aid trip, New York and Boston for St Patrick’s Day in March and a Camino walk trip in Spain later in the year.
Asked about the attention she receives because of her job, Katelyn says she is delighted if it inspires others to take the same path, and she is keen to reduce the stigma of women working in male-dominated industries.
“During Transition Year I said to Dad,‘I really don’t want to go to college. I don’t want to study for four years’. He replied, ‘Would you think of a trade?’ He explained an apprenticeship is where you get paid to learn. I was like, ‘Brilliant.’ That’s an absolute no-brainer.” She later spent a week with a local electrician and her decision was made.
However, it wasn’t without its challenges and she admits it took about four months to get someone to take her on as an apprentice after her Leaving Cert. “It was quite difficult to get a job as a female in a male-dominated trade. There’s such a stigma about, ‘Oh, we wouldn’t be able to; we can’t do this or that because we’re not lads.’
“It’s a horrible stigma, but I’m really trying to show a positive side to it.
“We can do anything we put our minds to,” she vows. While Katelyn believes there are a “good few other female apprentices in Ireland”, not many are advocating for it, despite all the talk of gender equality.
Always practical – something she attributes to growing up on a farm – Katelyn is delighted if her story is an example to others that you don’t always have to follow the traditional route to be happy.
“I hope I am inspiring girls and lads who want to go into other trades as well, not just the male-dominated ones. I do hope that I am spreading the message that there are so many opportunities,” she adds. “You don’t have to go to college like the traditional route.
“Learning with your hands is an incredible skill to have, and I think it is important to spread that message because we’re in secondary school for six years, and we’re learning through writing, and that doesn’t work for some people. I know it didn’t work for me.”
A big part of that can-do attitude comes back to the farm, where she has been out and about helping since she was five or six, feeding calves and milking cows.
“For so many years it was built into me to be able to work with my hands, to do the dirty work and just get on with it and stay going without making a big deal.
She also really appreciates the “quality time” with her dad and believes growing up in the countryside is a big part of her and always will be.
Rose of Tralee Katelyn Cummins pictured with her father Noel and her mother Siobhan, sister Molly and brother Jack. \ Claire Nash
Challenges
While she didn’t talk about wearing a hearing aid on stage in Tralee, Katelyn was asked about it in interviews afterwards. She says that dealing with a genetic hearing condition since she was a child has made her the determined and outgoing person she is today, but it is only a small part of her.
“Growing up with a disability for anyone can be difficult, but my parents and my secondary school guidance counsellor, Nicola Reddington, were a huge support to me. It’s a very small part of me. It doesn’t define who I am as a person. I don’t talk too much about it because I don’t want it to be ‘girl with a disability wins Rose of Tralee’,” she says.
When asked to share a message to others who, like her, face similar challenges, she replies,“Believe in yourself. You’re the same as any other normal hearing person.We can do exactly what we want to do as long as we put our minds to it.”
While there was much comment about her rose tattoo in memory of her beloved late grandmother Kathleen Cummins, she has another on her arm which says ‘misneach’, which illustrates her point even further. It means courage as Gaeilge and relates to an award of the same name she got in secondary school for her achievements during COVID-19. “I found it very difficult with the masks; obviously, being a lip reader. I got an award and it means strength and courage. It signifies how much I’ve been through in life, and how I still have the strength and courage to keep going. It’s put me where I am today,” she says, smiling.
Looking ahead, Katelyn says enjoying all of the opportunities that cross her path is her priority this year, as well as progressing her career. Her diary already has many exciting things on the horizon including an appearance on The Two Johnnies Late Night Lock In show, heading to the WorldSkills Ireland event to promote trades and she’s off to The Ploughing, although you won’t catch her there in a dress – it’s farming gear all the way.
Jokingly asked if she’ll be pulled into farm jobs during her Rose term, she quickly quips: “I don’t think that sash is going be any excuse.”
For more information on electrical
apprenticeships, see page 28.
Like other young people up and down the country, Katelyn Cummins had a slightly husky voice and was feeling a tad tired on Monday of last week after an “absolutely unbelievable weekend” at Electric Picnic in Stradbally.
However, unlike her peers who were probably wrapped in a duvet or on the couch, Katelyn had just conducted a full round of engagements, including meeting members of Laois County Council, before Irish Country Living came calling to the family dairy farm at Castlemarket, close to Ballyouskill on the Kilkenny/Laois border.
It’s been a whirlwind few weeks for the 20-year-old apprentice electrician since she became the first Laois Rose to be crowned Rose of Tralee on 19 August, but she is determined to grasp every opportunity that comes her way.
“It’s been crazy. Everything has been going 90, but I’m absolutely loving it. I’m meeting so many new people,” she says, after a photo shoot on a Massey Ferguson in the fields, bathed in autumn sun with views of Ballymartin Hill. A few minutes earlier she brought in 100 cows for milking with her father, Noel, and mother, Siobhan, which included stopping the traffic for a time.
The eldest of three, Katelyn impressed many people in Tralee and beyond with her eloquent and determined advocacy for girls to go into apprenticeships and trades, emphasising that going to college isn’t for everybody.
To many, she represents a fresh and modern country voice – a lady who loves farming, camogie, her job, Macra, fashion, jiving and travel, to mention just a few of the topics that came up in our kitchen table chat.
Little did she think after jiving up a storm on the stage in Tralee that her next dance foray would be on the main stage at Electric Picnic. Her wide smile says it all, though. She revelled in her appearance with the Timahoe Male Choir in Stradbally, where she fittingly danced with Paul Dargan, who was a Rose escort himself more than 20 years ago.
“It was amazing seeing the crowd in the distance. It was something I’ll never forget,” she says in the family home, which is still bedecked with floral bouquets and scores of cards.
“So many people were asking me if I was nervous. No, I was so excited to just get up and see the crowd. And I think with this title, you just take everything in your stride and say yes to it all because you’re never going to get these chances again.”
Katelyn was also pinching herself with disbelief after meeting her musical favourites, Kingfishr, whose Killeagh anthem was the sound of the summer.
Laois Rose Katelyn Cummins. \ Claire Nash
Local homecoming
There’s been many highlights – from the Rose tour, Tralee and a local homecoming – but Katelyn is happy to be home on the farm, looking out at the fields and having a bit of normality. The Kilkenny native (the farm is just inside the border) does concede though that winning the Rose of Tralee hasn’t really sunk in yet.
A second-year apprentice in Alpha Drives in Portlaoise, she went back to work the week before our visit and is keen to balance the Rose role with her time in the workshop. “The lads are so supportive in my workplace, they’re really really good. There were questions for about half an hour on Monday morning and then back to work,” she says, laughing.
While some dismiss the competition as old-fashioned, Katelyn firmly bats away the idea. She points out the “sisterhood, the bond, the stories” and celebration of Irish heritage, saying that all of the Roses have different reasons for being involved. She went for the Laois Rose “for the craic and to make some new girlfriends” having watched it with her family every year.
“There aren’t enough words to describe how special and incredible the experience really is,” she tells Irish Country Living.
Describing herself as someone who loves being busy, she’s relishing the prospect of packed evenings and weekends for her Rose engagements in between work.
Then there is the small matter of four international trips to look forward to as well.
She’ll be heading to Frankfurt in Germany in November, Poland in February for a humanitarian aid trip, New York and Boston for St Patrick’s Day in March and a Camino walk trip in Spain later in the year.
Asked about the attention she receives because of her job, Katelyn says she is delighted if it inspires others to take the same path, and she is keen to reduce the stigma of women working in male-dominated industries.
“During Transition Year I said to Dad,‘I really don’t want to go to college. I don’t want to study for four years’. He replied, ‘Would you think of a trade?’ He explained an apprenticeship is where you get paid to learn. I was like, ‘Brilliant.’ That’s an absolute no-brainer.” She later spent a week with a local electrician and her decision was made.
However, it wasn’t without its challenges and she admits it took about four months to get someone to take her on as an apprentice after her Leaving Cert. “It was quite difficult to get a job as a female in a male-dominated trade. There’s such a stigma about, ‘Oh, we wouldn’t be able to; we can’t do this or that because we’re not lads.’
“It’s a horrible stigma, but I’m really trying to show a positive side to it.
“We can do anything we put our minds to,” she vows. While Katelyn believes there are a “good few other female apprentices in Ireland”, not many are advocating for it, despite all the talk of gender equality.
Always practical – something she attributes to growing up on a farm – Katelyn is delighted if her story is an example to others that you don’t always have to follow the traditional route to be happy.
“I hope I am inspiring girls and lads who want to go into other trades as well, not just the male-dominated ones. I do hope that I am spreading the message that there are so many opportunities,” she adds. “You don’t have to go to college like the traditional route.
“Learning with your hands is an incredible skill to have, and I think it is important to spread that message because we’re in secondary school for six years, and we’re learning through writing, and that doesn’t work for some people. I know it didn’t work for me.”
A big part of that can-do attitude comes back to the farm, where she has been out and about helping since she was five or six, feeding calves and milking cows.
“For so many years it was built into me to be able to work with my hands, to do the dirty work and just get on with it and stay going without making a big deal.
She also really appreciates the “quality time” with her dad and believes growing up in the countryside is a big part of her and always will be.
Rose of Tralee Katelyn Cummins pictured with her father Noel and her mother Siobhan, sister Molly and brother Jack. \ Claire Nash
Challenges
While she didn’t talk about wearing a hearing aid on stage in Tralee, Katelyn was asked about it in interviews afterwards. She says that dealing with a genetic hearing condition since she was a child has made her the determined and outgoing person she is today, but it is only a small part of her.
“Growing up with a disability for anyone can be difficult, but my parents and my secondary school guidance counsellor, Nicola Reddington, were a huge support to me. It’s a very small part of me. It doesn’t define who I am as a person. I don’t talk too much about it because I don’t want it to be ‘girl with a disability wins Rose of Tralee’,” she says.
When asked to share a message to others who, like her, face similar challenges, she replies,“Believe in yourself. You’re the same as any other normal hearing person.We can do exactly what we want to do as long as we put our minds to it.”
While there was much comment about her rose tattoo in memory of her beloved late grandmother Kathleen Cummins, she has another on her arm which says ‘misneach’, which illustrates her point even further. It means courage as Gaeilge and relates to an award of the same name she got in secondary school for her achievements during COVID-19. “I found it very difficult with the masks; obviously, being a lip reader. I got an award and it means strength and courage. It signifies how much I’ve been through in life, and how I still have the strength and courage to keep going. It’s put me where I am today,” she says, smiling.
Looking ahead, Katelyn says enjoying all of the opportunities that cross her path is her priority this year, as well as progressing her career. Her diary already has many exciting things on the horizon including an appearance on The Two Johnnies Late Night Lock In show, heading to the WorldSkills Ireland event to promote trades and she’s off to The Ploughing, although you won’t catch her there in a dress – it’s farming gear all the way.
Jokingly asked if she’ll be pulled into farm jobs during her Rose term, she quickly quips: “I don’t think that sash is going be any excuse.”
For more information on electrical
apprenticeships, see page 28.
SHARING OPTIONS