LEAVING CERT CELEBRATIONS FOR DENIS (73)
‘ARE YOU going to The Stores tonight to celebrate?’ 73-yearold Leaving student Denis North was asked by one of his classmates as he waited to collect his results at Kennedy College in New Ross.
‘I won’t be let in because I’ll be overage,’ the witty New Ross man joked back.
Denis from Brandon Park, New Ross, achieved the equivalent of C results in Honours English and Geography, having previously received an A1 in History and a good result in pass Maths.
He said: ‘I’m happy with my results. I was 57 years out of education. I did the old Inter Cert in 1960. I took a wee break, so it was great to be in a classroom again.’
Having studied for his Maths and History exams on his own, Denis took the brave decision to return to the classroom and enjoyed every minute of it! The mature student said he hopes to study Irish at the school, beginning next month, depending on whether his health holds up. ‘I have a big check up in September so I’ll have to see how that goes. I put two years work into these subjects. It was the first time I went into a classroom since 1960 to study and it was great. I had great craic and thoroughly enjoyed it.’
Denis preferred studying in the classroom over studying at home and said he got ‘more or less’ what he was hoping for in his results. A former youth worker, he retired aged 63 after his section was closed and immediately started doing courses in computers. This led him to do a VEC course at New Ross Vocational College where Jim O’Connor encouraged him to go back and do his Leaving Cert.
Principal Sue Barrett described Denis as an inspiration to the students.
`We are all delighted for him. It’s wonderful to see him do so extremely well. He gave his all to the subjects. He wants to continue his education and isn’t that wonderful. He is to be admired and it is a wonderful example to see a man aged 73 who wants to be in a classroom and who wants to study and learn when he doesn’t have to.’
LEAVING CERT RESULTS – SEE PAGES 14, 15 & 16