Graduation celebration
HATS OFF TO THE 1,800 GRADUATES OF IT SLIGO
MORE than 1500 students graduated from IT Sligo’s schools of Business, Engineering Design, Science and Social Science last week.
Five conferring ceremonies took place across two days, with students and their families attending the big day from all over the country. However, for one local family, it was a celebration of a ten- year relationship with the college, and it’s by no means stopping there. Shane Wimsey from the town area graduated with an Honours degree in Civil Engineering, his fourth IT Sligo degree.
He said: “I am definitely proud as it has taken years of hard work. I’m hoping to go on to do a Masters now. As Michelangelo said ‘ I’m still learning’.”
Shane started off at the IT with a higher certificate in Civil Engineering, then went on to complete a Bachelors degree in the subject before another Bachelors in Environmental Management. He was joined by his partner Nicola, mother Ann and two sons Jake and Shan.
Shane said studying and being a father requires sacrifices, but it’s worth it. Jake said he was very proud of his daddy and hopes to one day follow in his footsteps. Graduates also travelled from afar, as Gee Tat Kan and Yew Chuan Lim, both from Penang, Malaysia, graduated with Level 7 degrees in Mechatronics.
Gee Tat said he was very proud to be graduating from IT Sligo. He said: “We are friends from Malaysia, so we are very proud to be graduating here together. We had a great time and hope to go on and complete the Level 8 soon.”
They were joined for celebrations with friends from their home country.
And although they had no one graduating on the day, Ann and Francis Walshe from Boyle made the trip up to wish all the graduates well, and offer advice to parents setting their children off to the real world. This is because they have had eight IT Sligo conferring ceremonies over the past 13 years, as four of their six daughters received degrees from the college. The first was Regina who graduated with a Business degree in 2003 and is now working as a Chartered Accountant. Their youngest daughter, Laura, is a first year Digital Marketing student at the IT.
“It’s a brilliant college and our girls loved it and it equipped them for the professional world,” Ann said. “They had wonderful times here.”
At the conferring ceremonies, IT Sligo President, Dr Brendan McCormack, told graduates their achievements put them at centre stage.
He said: “The parchment in your hands is not simply an item to frame and hang up on the wall at home, nor is it merely a sentence to enhance your CV. It is a live and relevant testimony of who you are and of what you can do – and what you are capable of. I hope that you will stay in touch with us as part of our network of alumni and return to update your qualifications.”