The newly-crowned Rose of Tralee discovered a love of working with electrics while on Transition Year work experience.
Katelyn Cummins (20), an electrical apprentice, said she is “absolutely delighted” to represent women in the trade world.
“I think I am inspiring a lot of girls and I hope to continue to do so,” said the Laois Rose, who is in the third phase of her apprenticeship with Alpha Drives Ltd, which designs and manufactures gearboxes and other electrics.
Some commentators on social media said it was good to have a Rose of Tralee who not only worked in a traditionally male-dominated field but was also a successful young women who wears a hearing aid.
RM Block
Speaking about this, she said: “I suppose having a hearing disability has its challenges but I wanted to make this experience about me, not my disability.”
Her parents, Noel and Siobhan Cummins, are dairy farmers in Ballyouskill on the Laois-Kilkenny border.
The Laois Rose took home the honour on Tuesday night at the Tralee Dome, Co Kerry. The title was conferred to Ms Cummins by the reigning Rose Keely O’Grady from New Zealand.
Surrounded by journalists and flowers in Tralee Town Park, the electrical apprentice looked remarkably bright considering she was running on 20 minutes of sleep.
“Most of the [the roses] were only going to sleep when I was getting up,” she said, laughing.
The Ballyouskill native said she has two years left in her apprenticeship, after which she hopes to spend a couple of years travelling, before returning to Ireland to complete an engineering degree.
Some of her travel plans will be realised sooner than she originally thought, with a €25,000 travel bursary included as part of her Rose of Tralee winnings.
Ms Cummins said she was looking forward to “making new experiences and the memories of a lifetime”. She wants to travel the world, see different cultures and meet new people.
She has not declared any destination yet, saying she will go “wherever the Rose of Tralee international festival takes me”.
Her status as the first ever Laois winner of the competition was news to Ms Cummins, who said: “It’s incredible. It’s all the more amazing to have the title.”
Ms Cummins added that working in a predominantly male environment meant the Rose of Tralee gave her “a great opportunity” to embrace her “feminine side”.
“It has been so refreshing” she said.
“I have got so much more confidence and empowerment from the other girls. It’s amazing to feel so supported by a female and girl power energy. It’s just been very good.”
“I think I was my true self, most definitely, on that tour. I am so excited to have 31 new girlfriends now,” she said.
She paid particular homage to Wexford Rose Clíona O’Leary, who also comes from a farming background, saying they got on “like a house on fire”.
The highlight of Ms Cummins’s festival was “jiving with the Wexford Rose Clíona”.
Another highlight came in the form of the Saturday night Moonlight Parade, when she welled up at the sight of “so many people I never knew were coming down to Tralee”.
If she could send a message to her younger self, it would be: “Be confident in yourself, believe in yourself and know that you are going to be amazing in the future.”
