Laois student awarded Athlone IT Scholarship of Excellence
A Laois student has been awarded a Scholarship of Excellence by Athlone Institute of Technology for her outstanding academic achievement.
Hannah McManus from Clonaslee is a graduate of Clonaslee College.
She was among thirty students who received awards at AIT’s Scholarship of Excellence ceremony on Tuesday May 10 – the highest number of recipients since the awards’ inauguration four years ago.
Scholarships of Excellence are conferred upon first-year students who have distinguished themselves academically at second level, achieving more than 500 points in their Leaving Certificate exams.
Achieving such high results puts such students into the top 20% of CAO applicants and demonstrates a high level of commitment and dedication to their studies.
Vice President of Academic Affairs and Registry is Frances O’Connell.
“We are delighted to honour the highest number of students receiving a scholarship of excellence award this year. These 30 students have entered a range of degree programmes across all our faculties, a place on which is highly demanded by our CAO applicants annually.
“Thereafter, these awardees will be highly sought as graduates by a wide range of employers and enterprises in the region and beyond or will have the opportunity to continue critical, cutting edge research in our technological university.
“We look forward to maintaining our recognition of scholarly excellence into the future as a technological university by continuing to formally recognise the high achievement of second-level students from our second level schools right across the Midlands and Mid-West regions and their performance on their Leaving Certificate examination.”
AIT President Professor Ciarán Ó Catháin added that their accomplishment demonstrated not only academic achievement but also “adaptability and resilience as you navigated many challenges this past year”.
He explained that this fortitude would prove useful as students went further “down the path of life” and said that he hoped that receiving a Scholarship of Excellence would encourage them to continue excelling in their chosen disciplines.
Scholarship of Excellence recipients receive a €500 bursary and a yearly gym membership while their associated secondary school is awarded a commemorative plaque with the recipient’s name.
This year marks AIT’s 50th anniversary as an institute, and it currently stands as Ireland’s top-ranked institute of technology, sitting seventh nationally on the higher education leader board of all universities and institutes of technology.
Just last week, AIT was designated as Ireland’s third technological university with its consortium partners, LIT. The new university is expected to be in-situ before the end of the year.
Scholarship of Excellence Recipients 2020/21
Jane Horan, Pharmacy Technician, Convent of Mercy, Roscommon
Eimear Smyth Veterinary Nursing, Breifne College, Cootehill
Shane Coughlan, Pharmaceutical Sciences (Drug Development and Analysis), Gallen Community School, Ferbane
Lauryn McKeon, General Nursing, Cnoc Mhuire, Granard
Alisa Murphy, General Nursing, Gallen Community School, Ferbane
Aoife Doyle, General Nursing, Vocational School, Longwood
Claudia Whelehan, Psychiatric Nursing, St Joseph's Secondary School, Rochfortbridge
Hannah McManus, Nutrition and Health Science, Clonaslee College, Clonaslee
Elora Mahon, Sports Science with Exercise Physiology, Vocational School, Athenry
Vasilena Simidchieva, Biotechnology, Tullamore College, Riverside, Tullamore
Keelan Gallagher, Microbiology, Roscommon Community College, Lisnamult
Sean O Neill, Microbiology, Cnoc Mhuire, Granard
Laura Gibney, Microbiology, Sacred Heart Secondary School, Drogheda
Kyle Doughty, Pharmaceutical Sciences, St. Clare's College, Ballyjamesduff
Teegan Murphy, Athletic and Rehabilitation Therapy, Cnoc Mhuire, Granard
Colin Donohue, Athletic and Rehabilitation Therapy, St. Joseph's College, Garbally, Ballinasloe
Rachel Boner, Athletic and Rehabilitation Therapy, Gairmschil Mhic Diarmada, Arranmore
Niamh Kenny, Applied Psychology, Athlone Community College, Athlone
Sarah McTiernan, Applied Psychology, Convent of Mercy, Roscommon
Besliu Steven, Applied Psychology, Community College, Galway
Bryan Hughes, Applied Psychology, Marist College, Athlone
Jack Norton, Applied Psychology, Marist College, Athlone
Andrew Chambers, Automation and Robotics, Wilson's Hospital, Heathland