The end of year 'celebration' gathered parents, students, staff and friends in the College gym last Friday. Fr. Murphy presided at mass during which Ms. Davis, Ms. Foley and students led the music and the singing - special praise was made of James McDermott and Thomas Murphy for their fabulous renditions of 'Imagine' and 'Halleluiah'. Fr. Murphy highlighted how the many 'gifts' brought to the College community by staff, parents, students, past pupils and Board members very much supported and created a shared unity of purpose to make Knockbeg the best it can be for its students.
Following mass the traditional presentation of trophies, won during the year took place. College principal Mr. C. Hughes and Rector, Fr. Murphy accepted Athletics, Hurling, Gaelic Football, Film Society, Young Entrepreneurs and International Tourism awards. The 1st Yr, Junior and Senior individual sports stars in Athletics, Gaelic Games and Basketball accepted their trophies next with Brian Kelly (6thYr) winning the inaugural ‘Best Athlete of the Year’ prize.
The first groups of academic awards were the ‘Achievement’ and ‘Merit Award’ winners from all subject areas in this year's Junior Cert Class. A similar presentation of ‘Achievement’ and ‘Merit Awards’ were made in all subject areas to the Leaving Cert Class. A special presentation was made by the College to Mr. Ted Wynne who retired from the College Board of Management this year after serving on every Board since their inauguration. The Parents' Council prize was presented by Mrs. B. Saruwatari (C'person) to Gearóid Gibbs for his unrivalled and generous contribution to the College this year. Six of last year's (2009) Leaving Cert class returned or were represented at the ceremony and, in recognition of their overall Leaving Cert result last year (each of them got more that 550 points), were presented with individual pieces of crystal. The final sets of presentations were made to the 'Student of the Year' (highest marks) and the 'Achiever of the Year' (best progress made) in every year group. Two brothers, Joseph and Aaron Barry collected the 2nd Yr and 1st Yr ‘Student of the Year’ awards in their respective classes. Mr. Hughes recounted some of the highlights of the year, outlined the many areas of progress being made in the school and wished both the Leaving Cert and Junior Cert classes every good luck in their forthcoming exams. The College’s catering and domestic staff had light refreshments prepared for everybody to enjoy afterwards. Commenting on the ceremony, College principal, Cyril Hughes said he was ‘delighted with the day and very proud of both the work and results of students and staff alike during the past year’.
Parents/Prizegiving Day May 22nd 2009
Knockbeg College’s annual Parents’ Day and Awards Ceremony took place last Friday May 22nd in the College gym.
The afternoon ceremony began with a celebration of Mass. Former Rector and currently Parish Priest of Edenderry and Rhode, V. Rev. Fr. PJ McEvoy, PP, was the principal celebrant.
Fr. McEvoy is also the current President of the Past Pupils Union.
Craig Doyle and John Rogers of the Carlow Snr. hurling team earlier in the day presented medals to last year’s U14 football team which won the Sth Leinster and to this year’s U14 hurling team victors in the Leinster Colleges ‘C’ championship. Peter Shaw, captain of the U14 hurlers presented the Leinster Trophy to the College.
On behalf of the College Fr. McEvoy accepted the Leinster Intermediate Cross Country award, a first provincial title for Knockbeg at Intermediate level. The Carlow Cross Country trophy, the Three Counties League Trophy, the Sth Leinster Intermediate Cross Country and 2 All Ireland Mountain Running awards were also presented. The victorious Leinster Intermediate Cross Country team went on to be 2nd in the All Irelands and had their All-Ireland silver medals presented by Fr. McEvoy. Eight Leinster Track and Field Gold Medals were then presented and a special word of congratulations was offered to 7 students who have been selected for Irish International teams. The 1st and 2nd Yr Basketballers also got special mention for their successes in reaching their respective All Ireland playoff competitions.
Niall Bergin (6th Yr) presented the Irish Austrian Society Perpetual trophy to his German teacher Ms. L. Dillon. Niall who was winning this national trophy for the second successive year won it with a German essay entitled “Aufbrech in ein neues Europs 20 Jahre nach der fall des Eisenern Vorhangs” (A new departure into Europe 20 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain) - his prize, a two week all expenses paid scholarship to Salzburg University.
Certificates of Achievement and Merit were then presented to the Jnr Cert and Leaving Cert classes.
One of each was awarded per subject and per class group. The 1st, 2nd and 5th Yr students had, at the conclusion of their class masses earlier in the week, received similar certificates in acknowledgment of their excellent school work during the year. This was followed by the presentation of the ‘Student of the Year’ award for each year.
These awards are made to students who received the highest aggregate marks in their Halloween, Christmas, Mock and Easter exams. Finally a special presentation of an in scribed Duiske Glass Bowl was made to six students from last years Leaving Cert class who had been given specific awards and scholarships by their respective universities and third level institutes.
School Principal, Mr. Hughes, then addressed the assembly offering particular congratulations to all who had been awarded certificates, ‘student of the year’ prizes and medals. However, while he praised the worth of extra-curricular activities and thanked all the teachers who gave up so much of their time to promote them, he stressed that these were additions to the main purpose of the College which was teaching and learning. In this context he referred to the 2008 Leaving Cert results in which 17% of the class got over 500 points (double the national percentage) and 46% got over 400 points set against a national figure of 29%. He also spoke about the Junior Certificate results in which 24% of the class got honours in all subjects. Mr. Hughes exhorted this year’s classes to attain the standards set by their friends from last year.
Rector, Fr. Mícheál Murphy, concluded the ceremony by thanking all involved in preparing the day, and all who attended. Light refreshments were then served.
