On Friday, 19^th October a distinguished gathering from the worlds of academia and sport converged on the Seven Oaks Hotel in Carlow for the twelfth annual Presentation College Academic Awards ceremony which, this year again, was also celebrating sporting successes.

Shortly after his appointment as Principal in November 2007, Mr Ray Murray requested the Board of Management to implement a new system of Academic Awards for the top achieving students in the Junior and Leaving Certificate examinations. The Board readily agreed to this request and since then the top achieving students in the Junior and Leaving Certificate Examinations were honoured. This time it was the turn of the Presentation College high achievers in the 2018 summer state examinations. The Academic Awards, implemented by the Board of Management, are designed to recognise and reward academic achievement among the students in Presentation College and to publicly celebrate their success.

The Academic Awards are just one of a series of initiatives introduced in the college to acknowledge, support and sustain the high level of performance and success by the students in that centre of excellence. The high achieving students in the non state exam classes, based on last summer’s in-house exams, will shortly be presented with their Academic Subject certificates at ceremonies to be held in the school. Third and Sixth Year students have recently completed Study Skills seminars and numerous students also avail of after school Supervised Study from Monday to Thursday evening and on Friday afternoon. Testament to the academic ability of the students is the collection of numerous national titles the school has collected in the areas of business, enterprise, ICT, technology and public speaking. Most notably, Presentation College has secured awards at three World Finals, in Kuala Lumpur and Abu Dhabi, of the very prestigious F1 in Schools Technology Challenge.

Academic achievement among the students is a top priority in Presentation College and they perform consistently at a very high level in terms of results in the Junior and Leaving Certificate examinations each summer. This is due in no small manner to the hard work ethos of the students and their teachers coupled with the support and encouragement of their parents.

The Awards Ceremony on Friday night consisted of a sit-down meal for all recipients and their parents, along with the Principal, Deputy Principals, Year Heads and Board of Management members followed by the presentation of awards. The Chairperson of the Board of Management, Fr Conn Ó Maoldhomhnaigh, presented awards to the Junior and Leaving Certificate high-achievers. He wished the senior students every success in their future studies and encouraged the junior students to return for further awards based on a successful Leaving Cert.

The Junior Certificate recipients were– Mikey Dempsey, Nurlan Kennedy, Damian Korus, Diego Lopez Clarke, Stephen McDonald, Vladimir Rybnicky, Dominyka Stepanova and Anita Thapa.

The Leaving Certificate recipients and their current course of studies were Emma Dooley (Bachelor of Arts, Maynooth University), Kim McLoughlin (Law, Maynooth University), Emily Mulhall (Bachelor of Arts, Maynooth University), Sadhbh Redmond (Biological and Biomedical Science, Trinity College) and Thomas Sheehan (Psychology, University College Dublin)

The sports stars in attendance on the night were the athletes of the Senior Boys Relay team. Presentation College has a long and proud tradition of competing in athletics competitions at the highest level and the 2018 season marked the twenty-sixth successive year for the college to compete at the All-Ireland Schools Track and Field Championships. Principal, Ray Murray, spoke of the dedication and commitment of the athletes involved but most notably of their coach and Deputy Principal, Billy Delaney, who has grown the sport of athletics in the school over the past quarter of a century. The high level of coaching, hard work and commitment from all involved paid off handsomely last June when Presentation College came away from the finals with the Senior Boys Relay All-Ireland title for the second year in a row. Video footage of the race was shown to the assembled gathering on the night and presentations were made by the Principal, Ray Murray, to the athletes and their coach.

Senior Boys Relay Team: Jamie Cooper, Niall Harvey, Jack Mitchell and Thomas Pollard.