On Friday, 21st November, fittingly the Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a distinguished gathering from the world of academia converged on the Seven Oaks Hotel in Carlow for the nineteenth annual Presentation College Academic Awards ceremony.

The Board of Management implements a system of Academic Awards to honour the top achieving students in the Junior Cycle and Leaving Certificate examinations. This time it was the turn of the Presentation College high achievers in the 2025 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 students. The high-achieving students in the non-state exam classes, based on last summer’s in-house exams, are presented with their Subject Certificates at ceremonies in the school. All 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 amassed 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 Cycle 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, Deans of Discipline 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 Cycle and Leaving Certificate high-achievers. He extolled the benefits of education and 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 Certificate. In his address to the assembled gathering Mr Ray Murray, Principal, noted that all the Leaving Certificate recipients had received at least 550 CAO points, including two students, Leo Bramrock and Jia Hao Zhou, who had secured the maximum 625 CAO points.

The Awards Ceremony also acknowledged the recipients of the major awards, previously presented at the end-of-year Junior and Senior School Awards Ceremonies last May. Present on the night also were the Junior and Senior, Female and Male Sportspersons of the Year, the Amanda O’Mahony Memorial German Award, the Bridín Quinn Award, the CEIST Award and the Junior and Senior Student of the Year Awards.

In addition, the Board of Management also presented a relatively new award – The Nano Nagle Award – to Transition Year student, Ava Bolger, in recognition of her efforts to overcome challenges and her own contribution to the school during her Junior Cycle years.

In relation to the Academic Awards, the Junior Cycle recipients were – Yingxin Chen, Amelia Cole, Isobel Cole, Lilianne Dempsey, Judyta Dzierba, Isha Kamalon, Rose O’Connor, Aoife Owens and Dikshaya Rijal.

The Leaving Certificate recipients and their current course of studies were – Leo Bramrock (Medicine, UCD), Seán Breen (Accounting and Finance, DCU), Dylan Byrne (Engineering, UCD), Joseph Carbery (International Business, UL), Marie Cranny (Pharmacy, TCD), Áine Fallon (Law, UCD), Charlie Feeney (Mechanical Engineering, UG), Dylan McGrath (Engineering, UCD), Aoife Moody (Primary Teaching, DCU), Marc Mulhall (Accounting and Finance, DCU) and Jia Hao Zhou (Computer Science and Business, TCD)