Milwaukee Chapter -- Shamrock Club of Wisconsin

Milwaukee Chapter of the
Shamrock Club of Wisconsin

The Milwaukee Chapter meets the first Thursday of each month at the Irish Cultural and Heritage Center, 2133 West Wisconsin Avenue.

Milwaukee Activities Include:

MARCH ST. PATRICK'S DAY EVENTS:

Annual Birthday Party, ICHC; 7 pm

Gaelic Mass at St. Patrick's Parish, 7th and Washington on March 12, 2011

Parade at Noon, Wisconsin Avenue on March 12, 2011

Post Parade party, 1 p.m. at the ICHC on March 12, 2011

OTHER YEARLY EVENTS

Monthly meeting, 1st Thurdays of the month, 7:00 p.m., ICHC

Our annual Easter Rising Mass on April 4, 2010 at the ICHC at 10 am.

Visit us at Irish Fest in the Sales and Cultural Areas in August

See us at Milwaukee's Holiday Folk Fair in the Cultural, Food, and Retail areas each November.

Join us for our annual picnic in August.

Join us for our Halfway to St. Patrick's Day Mass in mid-September

Christmas Party and Pot Luck Dinner the first Thursday in December.

Emerald Reflections, our monthly newsletter

Shamrock Club Color Guard Pipes and Drums

Join the Shamrock Club

Would you like to join the Shamrock Club? Download a Membership application application form here. We would love to have you join our celebration of Irish life.

Milwaukee Board of Directors:
The 2011-2012 board of directors for the Milwaukee chapter are as follows: Josh Walton. president; Julie Smith, past president; Kathy Donovan, vice president; John Fisher, treasurer; Mary Culver, secretary; Glenn Nowak, sergeant at arms; Denis Donohoe, membership chair; Brian Sneed, parliamentarian; and trustees: Sandy Quinlan, Pam Sonnenleiter Canon; and Ken Tehan. Their terms are from July 7, 2011 until July 6, 2012.

Bylaws:

Bylaws for the Shamrock Club of Wisconsin are available by clicking here.

WHY ARE WE THE SHAMROCK CLUB?

The shamrock is a three leafed plant used by St. Patrick to explain the Trinity. It has been found by Irish botanists to be a clover, oxalis, or any other trefoil. We chose the shamrock because it best symbolized the work of St. Patrick, and as a emblem of being Irish. Irish patriots wore sprigs of the plants in their hats during the 1798 Rebellion. It has been a sign that people are united as Irishmen and Irishwomen, in a non-sectarian sense, beginning in the 1600s. Remember, too, a shamrock only has three leaves. The lucky four leaf clover is not a shamrock, nor is it s a sign of being Irish.

WHY IS IT THE GREEN SEASON?

The Shamrock Club of Wisconsin coined the phrase the "Green Season" in 1989, at the suggestion of Shamrock Club member, Dublin native, and UW Milwaukee lecturer and historian John Gleeson. Mr. Gleeson said that St Patrick's Day had grown from just a one day celebration to over a month. And in the following years, it has only grown larger and longer. Now, it runs from February to the beginning of April. Long live the Green Season.

NEW SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION AVAILABLE
The Shamrock Club's annual Irish Studies Scholarship is now available for download. Click 2012 Scholarship application for a copy.
The purpose of the scholarship is to provide financial assistance to any individual interested in furthering their knowledge of Irish culture and heritage.

Eligibility requires a high school diploma. A maximum of five (5) $500 scholarships will be awarded in 2012.

Completed scholarship applications must be returned by May 5 for consideration for an award.

SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMS

SHAMROCK CLUB
2011 SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS
ANNOUNCED

The 2011 winners of the Shamrock Club’s Irish Studies Scholarship have been announced. They are: Brian Barnes, Anna Holcomb and Darius Madison, all of Milwaukee, and all students at UW-Milwaukee. All used their awards to study the Irish language at Glencolmcille, County Donegal.

The trio will be giving a report on their trip and their studies at the September meeting. Congratulations!

Since 1974, the Shamrock Club has given almost $30,000 in scholarships.

Each of the candidates was awarded $500 to further their studies. Congratulations, Corey, John, Drew, and Emily. Enjoy your fields of study.

There were also four Ted Nestor Druming and Piping Scholarships awarded. They went to Noel Tylla, Neil McCafferty and JJ Garsombke. The Nestor Scholarships are used at the annual Midwest Piping and Druming School at St John's Northwestern Academy in Delafield.

Each year the Shamrock Club of Wisconsin's Milwaukee chapter has a raffle to raise funds for its Scholarship Raffle. We have given away over $25,000 since 1972. The scholarships are for Irish studies related programs, and are open to all college level students. We also have a scholarship for pipers and drummers to attend the yearly Piping and Drumming School in Milwaukee, (the Ted Nestor Scholarship, open only to Shamrock Club members). Many students have used the money to study in Glencolmcille, County Donegal. Others have attended school at Trinity College, or many of the UC Colleges or the NUI schools in Ireland. In additon, students have used the money to attended the annual Irish language immersion weekends in Milwaukee or Madison, WI.

The Shamrock Club also administers the Milwaukee Chapter of the Ancient Order of Hibernians scholarship.

For a list of Scholarship Winners, click Scholarship Awarded.

For a copy of the Scholarship application, please click 2012 Scholarship application.