Scholarship recipient Cian O’Grady with WIT President Willie Donnelly, and parents Mary and Michael.
Cian O’Grady, Ballinard, Herbertstown, is one of five exceptional people awarded scholarships with a total value of up to €12,000, and Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) is reminding prospective students who have applied to WIT not to miss out on the chance to win one of five scholarships worth €3,000 a year to each individual. Rather than a focus on high points, the scholarship scheme encourages and rewards inspiring people who show a capacity to shape a better society. The closing date for President’s Scholarship applications is Friday, 7th April at 5.15pm. A CAO Information Evening will take place on Tuesday, 4th April, which gives CAO applicants and their families the chance to tour the main campus, talk to students and lecturers. Scholarship applicants must have listed one of WIT’s 70 CAO courses as one of their choices on their CAO application before applying. One of the inaugural recipients of WIT’s President’s Scholarship programme is Cian O’Grady, Ballinard, Herbertstown who is a son of Mary and Mike, who are well known for their volunteering in the community; he has two brothers, Conor and Oisin. Cian previously won the Pramerica Spirit of Community Award in March 2016, which gave him the recognition as being Ireland’s top young volunteer, along with Carla McErlean from Derry. The award sent Carla and Cian to Washington DC to meet up with over 100 other awardees from all around the globe. In November 2016, Cian also won a Garda Youth Award which acknowledges people from the ages of 14-19 in Limerick for their voluntary work. A past pupil of St John the Baptist Community School in Hospital, Cian plays soccer with Herbertstown AFC. He says that being awarded one of the WIT President’s Scholarships means the world to him – and looks good on his CV. “Words just couldn’t describe how happy I am to have received this President’s Scholarship,” he says. “It has given me the opportunity to move away from home and experience life on my own. It has given me the opportunity to study a course that I have been wanting to do for quite a long time. My course was highly recognised in Waterford and I am delighted that I was able to get a scholarship in to one of the best taught courses in the country. I’m extremely proud that Waterford Institute of Technology thought that my voluntary work was worthy enough of this scholarship.”
“My future hopes are to set up a social enterprise which will help the homeless. I am currently working on this, so hopefully when I get enough money saved to get it going I’ll be able to implement it. I hope to finish my degree and go on to get a Masters in social work. If all goes really well and my social enterprise works out then I’d love to be able to set up my own scholarship award to acknowledge those doing voluntary work and for students who are facing poverty but would love to attend college and get a degree.”
Prospective applicants will find all the details on http://www.wit.ie/caoschola Congratulations to Nagle Rice Secondary School student Seán Enright who travelled to Spain on 8th March with seven other boys from all over Ireland to play on the Ireland Under 18 golfing team. They played against the Spanish U18 team in La Manga, Spain. Seán got a fantastic one and a half points out of a possible three points and was Ireland’s second highest points earner. Unfortunately Ireland were beaten but they will be travelling to La Manga again in July for ten days to participate in the European Championships. “It was a great experience for us and a huge learning curve in our golf games,” noted Seán on his return to school. Well done Seán! Nagle Rice are very proud of your achievements! rship.