Student awards night at CBS Mitchelstown

Friday, 17th September, saw the annual CBS Mitchelstown student awards take place. Considering this was an evening that was not able to take place last year, due to Covid restrictions, the school was delighted that this year’s event was so successful. The school feels incredibly strong about positive affirmations, and hence, the annual awards are a very special occasion in the school calendar.

Last Friday, many awards were given, recognising the talents and achievements of the students in school and out, and were categorised under sports, academics, leadership, active citizenship, and special merit.

In relation to sport, Certificate of Achievements were granted to Zach McCarthy, for being awarded the U17 minor player of the year with Limerick in 2020, Cathal English, Charlie English, Jack Ryan, and Darragh O’Brien for their success in representing their county in the minor GAA championships, and Tommy Long for playing with the U16 Munster Development Squad in rugby.

Special Merit Awards were then bestowed upon Adam Moylan, James Browne, Mark Sampson, Darragh Brennan, Nigel Lucey and William O’Connor, for their engaged attitude to educational reform, consistent effort, determination, and success in writing respectively.

From an academic perspective, from the class of 2021 Adam Luddy received the award for Maths/Science, for his exceptional results, having received a H1 in Applied Maths, Physics, Accounting and Maths. Ben Evans, then, received the award for Excellence in the Humanities, for his H1 in English, History and Politics & Society.

For project work, the following students were given awards: Declan Mullins, for his Ag. Science and his D.C.G. projects, and Padraig Finn, for his Construction project. The first-year student of the year award went to Padraig Hickey, the Second-Year award to Brian Mullins, the fifth-year award to Pierce Burke, the TY award to Scott Conroy, and the LCA1 award to Cathal Barry. These latter accolades were specifically in relation to academic success in the in-house exams.

The Junior Cert student of the year was awarded to Cathal Walsh, while the Leaving Cert student of the year was given to both Adam Luddy and Jack O’Shea, all for their exceptional results in the state exams.

The evening concluded with the Principal’s Award, which was allotted to Jake Buckley, for his leadership amongst his peers, while the ERST/James Meaney Trophy was awarded to Ben Evans, for his exceptional work in relation to active citizenship and his deep sense of social justice, an award that also encompassed a bursary, kindly sponsored by Mitchelstown RFC and the Meaney family.

The awards night could not, however, have taken place without the support of Mitchelstown Credit Union, who sponsored the trophies for the night, acquired from The Treasure Chest here in town, so huge thanks is warranted here.

Thanks, must also be given to the Mitchelstown RFC and the Meaney family for their kind bursary for the recipient of the ERST/ James Meaney Trophy. Furthermore, thanks must be given to all the teachers involved in nominating and writing citations for the night, and to the staff members involved in setting up the room, reading citations, delivering speeches and overseeing photography.

Most of all though, credit and thanks must be given to the students and their parents. This night was about these young men whose abilities, hard work and active engagement in sport and the community was both noteworthy and admirable. The youth of today is the hope of tomorrow and seeing the calibre of students in the hall in CBS Mitchelstown on Friday night, the future is most certainly in good hands.