There were plenty of smiles, cheers, and more happy tears than sad as the class of 2016 picked up their Leaving Cert results in schools across Athlone yesterday morning (Wednesday ).
Teachers and parents looked on with pride as students of Athlone Community College, Our Lady’s Bower, Marist College, St Aloysius College, and St Joseph’s College, Summerhill gathered together to celebrate the fruits of their labour.
Proud principal of Athlone Community College Eileen Donohue happily posed for photos with high-achieving students Rebecca Whyte and Shane Gibbons, who each received 625 points.
Principal of St Aloysius College, Athlone, Gearóid Ó Conámha, said his students had achieved “excellent” results across the board.
“All are very happy, including our repeat students. Results were excellent across the board, especially in Honours Maths where there were a lot of As and Bs. A lot of students exceeded their own expectations, and I’m delighted for them. It shows that once you put in the work, you will reap the rewards,” he said.
With one student earning 590 points and several more around the 560 or 570 mark, Mr Ó Conámha said that all 120 students are planning to go on to third level education.
“A lot of them have their minds made up what they want to do. They all know what’s out there and are well informed,” he added.
Thirty-eight students sat the Leaving Cert exam in St Joseph’s College, Summerhill. Principal Liam Nally said the mood was very positive yesterday morning when students came to collect their results.
“We are delighted. Everyone came in to pick up their results which is a nice tradition, and the career guidance teacher was here to help students work out points. Thankfully the issues with Maths and Science didn’t hit here,” he said.
However he said the real ‘D-Day’ will be this coming Monday, when the first round of CAO offers are made to students.
“There have been fluctuations with points for courses, so Monday will tell. At the moment we can only go on last year’s figures. All our students are planning to go to college, into areas including optometry, teaching, science, and arts.”
The class of 2016 at St Joseph’s College and St Aloysius College are the penultimate groups to receive their results from those schools. With the schools amalgamating to form Coláiste Chiaráin in September 2017, next year’s sixth years will be the last to sit their final exams in the separate schools.
