Second level colleges from throughout the county were well represented at the recent Kerry Education and Training Board Student Awards night. The event, for colleges affiliated to the KETB, was held in the Institute of Technology Tralee.
Castleisland Community College was well and ably represented on the occasion with no less that seven of its students taking awards. Irish women’s rugby international and Tralee native, Ruth O’Reilly was the guest speaker and she also presented the awards to the winning students. The following is a list of the Castleisland Community College winners and their citations.
Tara O’ Shea: Exceptional Leadership in the School Council
Tara O Shea is a hardworking, capable, and an incredibly nice girl who has a mature approach to her academic studies, her school responsibilities and her relationships with others. She is presently the secretary of our Students Council. Tara is proactive and self-motivated, she is a vital member of the council who is always devising new projects and ways we could improve our school environment for both students and staff.
Tara has been involved in fundraising, Positive Mental Health awareness and was hugely involved in our Anti Bullying and Resilience DVD produced by the Students Council. She is a driving force behind our ‘Fit Minds’ project this year. Tara never hesitates to put in that bit of extra effort to stand out among her contemporaries she had proved herself to be a vital member of the Students Council in Castleisland Community College.
Anita McCarthy: Junior Certificate Academic Award
“We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort”. This sums up our recipient of the Junior Certificate award. Anita is an intelligent and capable girl who has a mature approach to her studies. It came as no surprise to us at Castleisland when Anita did exceptionally well in her Junior Certificate achieving 10A’s. Anita said that this was all down to working hard from 1st year onwards. Anita studied a broad range of subjects including Science, Technical Graphics, Materials Technology Wood among others. These results are reflective of her determination and self-motivation towards her studies. Her commitment was also evident in the non-exam subjects such as religion and SPHE. Her teachers remarked on the focused manner in which Anita saw projects etc. through to their conclusion leaving no stone unturned.
She is a dedicated and hardworking student and has proven to be a quiet confident role model with a passion to excel in all areas and goes about her work in a diligent and unassuming manner. Anita has an excellent relationship with her peers and is always extremely respectful in her dealings with staff. She displays a level of reliability and responsibility at all times. Anita was a member of the both the football and basketball teams where she has shown real team spirit. She is currently studying in 5th year and is applying herself very well to all areas of study and is already well on track in her preparations for Leaving Certificate.
Padraig O’ Connell: Exceptional Involvement in the Life of the School at Junior Cycle
Padraig is certainly fully deserving of this award as the word exceptional is an appropriate description of this young man. Padraig is not only brilliant academically, having received nine A’s in his Junior Certificate, but an outstanding participant in many aspects of school life. Padraig had made a valuable contribution to the life of Castleisland Community College since his arrival in 2012. He is a talented athlete who participates fully in all sporting activities in the school. Padraig is diligent and is willing to help out at all school events. He has represented the school at open nights, enterprise evenings, school masses and many other occasions. Following Padraig’s exceptional results in Science and Maths he was chosen in the top 450 students to participate in the Irish European Union Science Olympiad which was a huge achievement for Padraig and our school. He is an active member of the student council since first year and has positively represented the views of his peers. Padraig is a well-rounded and popular student. Padraig primary attribute and reason he is receiving this award is his open, conscientious and generous personality. He is intelligent, capable and personable person who will continue to be positive influence on the life of our school.
Erin O’ Connor: School Academic Excellence Award
As a student of Castleisland Community College Erin excelled on a plethora of levels. Throughout her years in school she displayed an engaging positivity combined with a strong ,focused and dedicated work ethic. She worked for and achieved a very high standard of academic excellence in both her Junior and leaving Certificate examinations. While in Transition Year her active and willing involvement added to the continuing success of the T.Y. programme in the school. As a student, she personifies talent, excellence, dedication and a generosity of spirit. She stems from a family that have a long academic, sporting and musical tradition with the school. Her willing personality and sense of optimism made her a perfect role model for her fellow classmates and students. Throughout her years as a student in Castleisland Community College she had an excellent relationship with both students and staff. She embodies maturity, reliability and responsibility. She is presently studying Structural Engineering in Cork Institute of technology. Her abundance of talent coupled with a desire to succeed will ensure for her a bright future.
Cian Lonergan: Best Technology Student
It is of no great surprise that Cian Lonergan is receiving this award, as from his very early days at Castleisland Community College his talent was noticed, nurtured and honed into the young Mechanical and manufacturing engineer he will one day become at Cork Institute of Technology. From 1st year he was a member of the Woodwork Club and gave up his lunchtimes to learn new skills and techniques – such was his thirst for knowledge and learning. He also completed a very successful Transition year programme at Castleisland Community College. It was during this year he led a team at the annual Formula 1 in schools competition at the University of Limerick whereby his team built a 1:20 scaled model replica Formula 1 Car from Balsa wood, which was then raced against other schools. As part of the competition his team had to put their car design through various stress/strain/aerodynamical tests in their D.C.G./Engineering class using Solidworks Simulator. Cian was always very proud of home, coming from an agricultural background, he saw the values of practical subjects such as Woodwork & Metalwork and how beneficial they can be in the real world we live in. This fuelled his work ethic and was key to him achieving excellent results in all subjects in his Leaving Certificate. Cian was a shining example to all his peers of how project work, theory and day exams should be approached – Hard work!! Cian had an excellent relationship with both staff and students. His cheerful attitude, good humour and his optimistic viewpoint were contagious and helped other students to see the value in always embracing a positive outlook.
Rachel O’Connor: TY Achievement Award
We at Castleisland Community College are proud to recommend Rachel O’Connor for this year’s Transition Year Award. Rachel has been an outstanding student throughout Transition Year. One of Rachel’s many achievements during the year was being named AIB Build a Bank Manager in our school. This followed on from a lengthy interview with AIB Castleisland Branch members she fought stiff competition from her fellow students. Rachel proved to be an exceptional leader and led her team ‘Celtic Savers’ to the regionals in Cork. Rachel got involved in all aspects of Transition Year from swimming to The Gaisce Bronze Medal Award. She embraced every activity with an open mind and a heart full of enthusiasm. She was inspirational and motivational to her fellow students and showed great initiative with her Sweet Treats Enterprise project. Rachel is also a very talented musician who plays the harp and is an active member of the school choir. Rachel’s work experience report was one of the best we have ever received from a Transition Year employer. This highlighted to us the need for Rachel to be recognised as Transition Year Student of the Year. She is always extremely respectful in her dealings with staff and displays a level of responsibility and reliability at all times. We wish Rachel every success in her Leaving Certificate Studies and we hope that the qualities she fostered and developed during her Transition Year will remain with her for life.
Ashling Moriarty: Peer Mentor Award
Ashling is to be commended on her motivation and commitment to the peer mentoring program. Always pleasant and good humoured she made her mentees feel so comfortable around her. She was also instrumental in planning the peer mentoring sessions to ensure the meetings ran smoothly. She was very proactive and great at coming up with new ideas for the program. She always expressed interest in her mentees well-being, seen in a series of encouraging and supportive meetings. She was very patient with her mentees and instilled confidence and belief in them.
Aisling showed great leadership qualities and understood the positive impact she had on those around her. Overall Aisling brought an extra spark and played a key role in making the mentoring program possible. Ashling’s interactions with staff and fellow students reflected her mature, respectful and polite demeanour at all times.
