Star young scientists sit unique exam

June 1987

When the 116 pupils of the FCJ Convent in Bunclody sat down on Wednesday of last week to start their Leaving Certificate examinations, there were two notable absentees.

Missing were the school’s much acclaimed Young Scientists of the Year, Emma Donnellan from Clonroche and Henry Byrne from Kildavin, who were representing Ireland in the Philips European Science contest in Paris.

Now, in addition to their fame in the scientific field, the two have unwittingly found further renown thanks to a unique gesture by the Department of Education. They have agreed to set a special English paper for them, to allow them to miss the regular examination while on the Paris trip.

Emma and Henry will sit the alternative paper on Friday June 19th, a day when neither has a scheduled exam.

Emma and Henry left Dublin for Paris on Sunday and were not due back until Wednesday evening – too late for their English paper but still in time for their Honours Maths paper on Thursday.

FCJ School Principal, Sr. Eileen Keane, is delighted at the way the matter has been resolved.

‘Full credit in this instance must go to the Department of Education, and of course, to Emma and Henry. The Department felt that Ireland should be represented in the prestigious European contest, and I think they responded in a very understanding way to what was a unique problem,’ she said.

As well as revising for their exams, Emma and Henry have been making some changes and alterations to their Aer Lingus award winning project for the Paris contest. Their entry is a new technique for the analysis of physical and chemical properties of liquids.

They can look forward to another trip later in the year, when they will be guests of honour at the Nobel Prize ceremonies in Stockholm in December.

Science teacher Michael Dalton is in Paris with both students, and he hopes to be phoning home with good news from there.