Cork graduates top of the teacher college class
STUDENTS from Cork emerged top of the class in several categories at the annual conferring ceremony at Limerick’s Mary Immaculate College last week.
Newly minted Macroom teacher Eileen Murphy won the College Gold Medal as she emerged top of the Bachelor of Education (Primary Teaching) programme.
Eileen was also awarded the Bonn Vere Foster Award for obtaining first place in Teaching Practice and the Peadar Cremin Fellowship for achieving first place in Educational Research and the Dissertation on the programme.
The Peader Cremin Fellowship is awarded by the College in memory of the late Prof. Peadar Cremin, President of MIC 1999-2011, and was presented by his wife, Mrs Áine Cremin.
Mallow’s Frances Joyce was awarded the Certificate in Religious Education and the Diocese of Limerick Medal as she achieved first place in the Certificate in Religious Education in the Professional Master of Education (Primary Teaching) programme.
Geraldine Brassil from Charleville was awarded the College Gold Medal for achieving first place in the BA in Liberal Arts at Mary Immaculate College while Finn Mella from Mitchelstown was awarded with the Early Childhood Ireland Best LINC Portfolio Award.
This programme, established in 2016, is designed to enhance inclusion of children with additional needs in the early years’ settings.
Other winners of awards include Deirdre O’Brien from Dunmanway who was the presented witht eh Duais Carlisle and Blake Award. This is presented to the graduate who was awarded first place in Education, Theory and Practice on the B. Ed (Primary Teaching) course.
Conferred with a doctorate was Dr. Vicky Brady from Cork city who graduated as a Doctor of Philosophy (Irish).
While College President, Professor Eugene Wall, congratulated the 1,989 students who were conferred with academic awards, he paid tribute to the people behind the graduates who had helped along the way.
“Behind every graduate there are always other people to be found—dedicated mothers, fathers, grandparents, spouses or partners, relatives or friends—who have also been part of the journey that culminates in this ceremony, from major sacrifice of financial support at the one end to the kindly provision of advice in the bleaker times on the other.
“We express our gratitude to you.”
Professor Wall also referred to the uncertainty created by the digital transformation of work and society over the past few decades and said that while it was impossible to future proof any educational school, it was possible to ‘acquire transferable skills and an adaptable mindset’ that would enable students to continue learning throughout their lifetimes.
The 1,989 students who were conferred with academic awards at the MIC ceremony came from 27 counties, nine countries and four continents, a reflection of the national and international standing of the Limerick college.
“In your quest for success and for personal fulfilment, I hope that you are also guided by a desire to touch and enrich the lives of others, both those closest to you and more widely,” the College President told the attendance of graduates and their families.