JOY AS THE LONG WAIT FOR LEAVING CERTIFICATE RESULTS ENDS
THE long, anxious wait was over and the emotions came spilling out as young people across north Wicklow received their Leaving Cert results last Wednesday.
Over at Woodbrook College (formerly St Brendan’s), it took some convincing to get Rory Ellard to reveal how well he had done.
‘I’m hoping to do actuarial studies,’ said Rory, who said he was confident that he would get an offer. He finally said that he got a very impressive 585 points, earned with five As and a B.
Rory agreed that this took some hard work. ‘ There were a lot of weekends sitting in and not going out. I’m happy that it paid off though. I’ll make up for it tonight!’ He was planning on going into The Academy in Dublin to celebrate.
Aaron Kennedy said that he did better in some subjects than he was expecting, particularly English and history. ‘I haven’t calculated my points yet but my top choice is science in UCD.’
‘I did pretty well but I wish I’d done a little better,’ said Conor Knox. ‘ There were one or two where I thought I’d gotten a bit higher, and one or two of the papers were pretty hard. I found maths relatively easy, but I always find it relatively easy. I was hoping for engineering but since that’s a bit too high, I’m hoping for either athletic therapy in UCD or engineering in DIT instead of UCD.’ Conor was going out with his girlfriend on Wednesday night to celebrate.
There were tears of joy and disappointment on the grounds of Loreto on the Vevay Road on Wednesday morning as the girls received their Leaving Cert results.
Emer Curtin has a bright future in science, having achieved a phenomenal 610 points in her exams.
She plans to study nanoscience, physics and chemistry of advanced materials in Trinity. She took biology, chemistry and physics at Leaving Cert level and the sciences are Emer’s passion.
She was planning to attend a party at a friend’s house to mark the occasion.
‘I’m so relieved,’ said Amy Barry, who hopes to study athletic therapy. ‘I’m really happy with my results. I was nervous last night and this morning. There were a few tears!’ She and her friends were planning on going to The Palace in Dublin for their night out.
Aoife McDonald proved that romance isn’t dead. She hadn’t opened her envelope and was waiting to meet her boyfriend for them both to get their results together.
Sinead O’Neill was confident that she would get an offer to study social care in DIT, which came in at 400 points last year. ‘I’m really happy,’ said Sinead, after a sleepless night due to nerves. She agreed that she had worked hard for the past two years. She was going for a family meal to mark the occasion.
If Sinead was nervous, her mum Laura was twice as bad. ‘I’m awake since six o’clock!’ She agreed that the experience was nearly more nerve wracking for the mums. ‘I’m delighted. All her work paid off and she did fantastic.’
Twins Aoife White and her brother Cormac, who went to Pres, met up at Loreto after collecting their results.
Their parents, Brian and Adrienne, said that they are very proud of the pair. ‘I’d hate to be doing it again!’ said Brian. ‘I’m absolutely thrilled with the two of them.
Adrienne said that she didn’t realise how nervous they were until last night and this morning. ‘But it’s all come good and they did fantastically well!’
Aoife hopes to do an arts degree in UCD, while Cormac wants to go to DIT to study business. ‘I’m absolutely delighted, so happy,’ said Aoife. ‘I wasn’t expecting to do so well.’
Cormac said that they were very nervous and relieved to have the results. They were planning on going out with friends later that evening.
‘I’m so happy and surprised,’ said Claire Butler. ‘I was convinced I’d failed everything and then I pulled through! I’m absolutely delighted.’ Claire had already secured her place on a beauty course so was much more relaxed than some of her peers.
Niamh Sutton has options and will either be going to the UK to study journalism or will go to DCU to study economics, politics and law.
Dáire McEntegart at the Presentation College said that he was over the moon and got a bit more than he expected. ‘I want to do arts in UCD and got a good bit over what I need to do that course,’ he said.
‘In my head, I thought “they’re going to go terribly”’, said Mark Davenport. ‘Especially maths because it’s so hard. I stuck with it for the extra 25 points and it worked out in the end,’ he said. Mark was nervous at the last minute, but had put the exams out of his head over the summer.
Principal Gerry Duffy said that the results were terrific. ‘ Thank God we’ve avoided that big failure rate in ordinary level maths,’ he said. ‘ That worried me when I heard it on the radio this morning but it hasn’t happened here. I’m delighted with the results. We had some really top performers and they were extremely strong across the board.’
Approximately 80 students sat the Leaving Certificate at St Kilian’s this year and principal John Murphy sat down with most of them to go through their results.
‘We like to do it this way,’ said Mr Murphy. The students waited in line outside his office as he spent a few minutes with each one.
‘Some like to open their results in private because they don’t like the hubbub,’ he said. ‘I can also give them a little bit of advice and if there’s a bit of a wobble I can reassure them.
‘We are really happy. These are the best results we’ve had for a long time, they’re really strong. As well as the table toppers out front we have a solid middle group who did really well.
Biology, art and DCG (design and communication graphics) stood out this year. ‘Biolody was fantastic but it is always fantastic in this school,’ said Mr Murphy. ‘We also have a good Leaving Cert applied class who did very well.’
Couple Kelsey Fitzpatrick and Lee Ward went to get their results together. They were both very please and did better than they expected. Kelsey wants to do product design in DIT, while Lee already got a job in engineering. They were both nervous before
opening their envelopes. ‘I’m glad it’s out of the way!’ said Kelsey.
Ciaran Murray said that he was happy enough. ‘I did alright,’ he said. Ciaran is starting an apprenticeship in mechanics, which is something that has always interested him.
Jack Dempsey said that he got on grand, and was happy with his results. He plans to work in aviation. They were joining a group to go to the Wright Venue for their night out.