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Is ócáid ar leith í i saol an choláiste nuair a thagann pobal an choláiste le chéile chun gaiscí acadúla na ndaltaí a cheiliúradh. I mbliana, thángamar le chéile ar oíche Dé hAoine 27ú Samhain. Cuireann sé áthas i gcónaí orainn fáilte ar ais a chur roimh na daltaí speisialta seo atá tar éis sinn a fhágaint. Chomh maith le sin, tá súil againn go spreagfaidh eachtraí na ndaltaí seo na buachaillí ar fad sa scoil.

Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh confers two very prestigious yet quite different awards on its finest students. Earlier in the year, in May – immediately following their graduation ceremony – a select group of 6th Year students were presented with a much-coveted Gradam. That award acknowledges, among other things, the recipient’s contribution to the life of the school through the demonstration of positive leadership, the enhancement of the good name of the school and the engendering of an esprit de corps among the student body. The Academic Awards are quite distinct. With these awards, we acknowledge the success of our immediate past-pupils in the Leaving Certificate examinations and of our current 4th Year students in the Junior Certificate examinations held the previous June. This year, some eighteen students were honoured for their academic achievements. Each of these boys received a gold medal (at Leaving Certificate level) or a framed certificate (at Junior Certificate level).

The Academic Awards Ceremony is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the school calendar and this year was particularly pleasant as we were welcoming back our esteemed former Principal, Mr. Denis Kennedy. We were also delighted to welcome back to Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh An tUas. Pádraig Ó Ríordáin, one of our most illustrious past-pupils, who was our guest speaker for the evening. Pádraig, a corporate lawyer of international stature, is a graduate of both UCC and one of the most prestigious law schools in the United States, the Harvard Law School. He is also a member of the American Bar Association, the International Bar Association, the Union Internationale des Jeunes Advocats and the Harvard Law School Association. In the course of an address in which he offered us intriguing insights into the character of his former classmate Barack Obama, he also reminisced on his days as a pupil here in Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh. He spoke with great fondness and pride of his old school and maintained that the values that have most stood to him in the course of his career were not those which we might cynically presume to be prerequisites for a successful legal career but were, in fact, those first ingrained in him during his time with us in this school. The values to which he referred were moral values such as honesty, loyalty and generosity. Living as we do in an age seemingly obsessed with greed, ruthlessness and selfishness, this was a timely message. Mr. McCarthy, in the course of his address, further developed this theme and pointed out the outstanding contribution each of the award winners had made to the life of the school in all its fullness. It was no coincidence, he averred, that all of these students had also excelled in so many other aspects of school life. The evening, which was organised with his customary efficiency by Mr. Brett, concluded with a very pleasant reception attended by the award winners, their parents and their teachers.

We especially congratulate the senior boys who have now left the college to pursue their studies at third-level. We wish them well and look forward to welcoming them back in the future. The award winners are set out below:

(April 2010)
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