‘Carpe diem’ is the message at St Mary’s awards day

THE annual awards and prize ceremony was held at St. Mary’s Secondary School Charleville on last Friday when the students gathered in the school’s assembly hall for the eagerly awaited event.

They were welcomed by teacher Ms O’Keeffe and Acting Principal Anne Doherty.

In her address, Ms Doherty said that they were acknowledging the contributions the students had made to St. Mary’s over the past year, and in the case of Leaving Cert students over the past five or six years. She thanked the teachers for the many opportunities they give to students to allow them to identify and develop their gifts and talents, and for minding them every day.

“I want to acknowledge the role of Deputy Principal Ms Finn and the work she does for the school. Nothing is a problem and she always puts the students first,” she said.

Ms Doherty said that she hoped that the teachers acknowledge the great things the students do every day and that they notice how the students conduct themselves in their interaction with their peers. “The one thing I don’t like about today is that we can’t give an award to everyone or invite them on the stage to receive an award because during this last year each of you have made a difference to someone, so keep on doing that,” she said.

“We have a very unique school here in St. Mary’s and visitors to our school comment all the time on this but a lot of the time we take it for granted. Relationships between students and teachers are so positive, most of the time, we all get on with our day with a sense of trust, warmth, fun and determination.

“Teachers try every day to make your lives better in some way and every day you as students make a teachers’ day by the simple things you do. Life here is about caring for each other, not being afraid to try and to follow our dreams to be the best version of ourselves and believe that each of us can make a positive difference in others lives, no matter how small.

“At the beginning of every day, we start afresh—yesterday is gone, and today gives us an opportunity to start again” she said.

Ms Doherty urged the students to dream and to visualise their dreams coming true, to follow them, to be determined and disciplined to get there, to grasp opportunities and life without fear and use the talents one has and to believe in one self. She urged them to recognise their own worth, never to judge anybody else and to be grateful for all the wonderful things in their lives.

Finally, above all, she said to turn off their mobile phones, and to take time out, and not be a slave to their phones.

The guest speaker was past pupil Muirean Holly who related her experiences of her time as a student at St. Mary’s.

The presentation of awards and prizes then took place for academic achievement, sports, music, community, Green Schools, Gaisce. Cookery, public speaking, ethos, enterprise, woodwork, rotary and art.

The Catherine McAuley Award the school’s top award went to student Abbie Moloney, who received the award for showing the qualities of the school ethos of respect, tolerance, hard work and team work, and for being an ambassador for St. Mary’s School. Catherine McAuley founded St. Mary’s School in Charleville over 180 years ago on the invitation of the then parish priest Rev. Thomas Croke and local lady Mary Clanchy in 1836.

The Emma Carroll Award, which is in memory of a past pupil who during her shot life worked in may trouble spots throughout the world until her diagnosis with cancer, to which she succumbed at a young age. This award was presented by Muireann Holly to students Louise Costello and Eva Fitzgerald in recognition of their fund raising and trip with the Hope Foundation to Koltata last March to view the work being done there by the Cork based Foundation.

The girls gave a brief but very moving account of their trip where they experienced the wealth and poverty of India existing side by side, contrasting with the joy and the smiles of a people who have nothing and yet are content with their lot.