'It will drive me to perform at my best' - Laois Naughton Scholarship winner

The Laois student who has been awarded a €20,000 educational scholarship says it will spur her on to keep doing her best to prove she deserves it.

Ella Byrne was awarded a prestigious Naughton Foundation Scholarship at a ceremony in the Trinity Business School in Dublin on Saturday, October 15. 

A daughter of Anne Marie and Adrian Byrne, she attended Sacred Heart primary school and then Chríost Rí girls secondary school in Portlaoise, where she achieved 601 points in her Leaving Cert.

Also a committed Panthers basketball player, Ella is now studying physics at Dublin City University and hoping for a career in healthcare.

She received her award from the founding patrons of the Naughton Foundation, Dr Martin Naughton and his wife Carmel, joined by Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris at the award ceremony.

Below: County Laois Scholar Ella Byrne of Scoil Chríost Rí with principal Helen O'Donnell, Minister for Education Simon Harris TD and Dr Martin and Carmel Naughton. Photo: Kieran Harnett

She told the Leinster Express / Laois Live what it means personally to win.

"It's a help with paying for fees, but it's also a drive for me to perform at my best, and keep showing that I deserved to win it. That it was worth their while to invest in me," she said.

Having achieved a H1 in maths, physics, PE and biology in the leaving cert, she followed her best subjects to third level.

"Physics and maths were always my favourite subjects. I was interested in a career in healthcare as well, but I didn't know how to get maths into that. This course branches into the physics of biomedical science in second year, so I hope eventually I can work in a hospital, on the machinery maths based side," she explained.

Ella is one of the cohort who spent most of 5th year studying from home due to Covid restrictions.

"I didn't mind it, I had a good structure to get up and do classes, but you weren't picking things up the same way. In physics you couldn't do any experiments so we had to catch up in school," she said.

She is a member of Portlaoise Panthers since the age of 9, and kept training and playing right through the leaving cert year.

"It was nice to have that break, it was my time away from the books," she said. 

She is enjoying college life so far.

"It is tough but it's interesting. I am not studying languages any more, which I never liked, so they are modules I enjoy," she said.

Ella has special thanks for a teacher at Scoil Chríost Rí.

"I'd like to thank Ms Egan our guidance counsellor who pushed my to put myself forward for the Naughton Scholarship, and helped me throughout the application process," she said.

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The Naughton Foundation Scholarship Awards are presented to top leaving Cert students who are studying engineering, science, maths or technology at third level. 

Since its establishment in 2008, the Naughtons have given away €6 million to over 350 students. There is one guaranteed scholarship (€20,000) for each participating county, with some counties awarded more than one scholarship and each scholarship is worth €5,000 per annum for each year of a student’s three- or four-year undergraduate degree.  

Ella joins 37 exceptional Irish students who were awarded third level scholarships towards their studies in the areas of engineering, science, technology, and maths. Scoil Chríost Rí was awarded a prize of €1,000 towards their science facilities.