Greystones Community College
Annual Celebration of Awards - Thursday 18th May 2023
Every piece of work is a self-portrait of the student who completed it, and the students acknowledged at the Greystones Community College Awards day complete a masterpiece on every single occasion. It was a wonderful celebration as the college marked its annual awards day to honour the achievements and success of the students academically and in other areas of school life over the past year. The awards day, which was streamed live to parents and guardians in the school community was an opportunity to acknowledge those who left no stone unturned in their academic achievement but also their contribution to sporting and artistic endeavours and indeed fulfilling leadership roles during the year.
The Roll of Honour of Award Winners included the Bunchloch Awards representing the foundation stones of Greystones Community College. These awards for Respect, Excellence and Pride were presented to three students from each year group who embodied our core values. The Respect Awards were presented by Ms. Niamh Williams representing the Parent Leadership Team and the award winners were Maddison Moran, Cael Owens and Jenna Rice. These students were recognised for their positivity, respectful nature and positive interactions will all in the school community. The Excellence Awards were presented by the College Deputy Principal Ms. Maria Lynch and the recipients were Elliott Wright, Pola Kedziora and Naomi Wall who all show exceptional diligence and leave no stone unturned in every single task they put their minds to in the classroom. The Pride Awards were presented by the Board of Management Chairperson Cllr Lourda Scott to Peyton Foley, Leo Carrick and Holly Cheevers to acknowledge their can-do attitude and enthusiastic involvement in all aspects of school life.
The Buaic Chloch Awards were presented to the Students of the Year at Greystones Community College. Buaic Chloch translates from Gaeilge as Pinnacle or Peak Stone and the worthy winners have certainly reached their peak this year.
The Buaic Chloch (Student of the Year) for the boys were Jack Deegan, Matthew Ryan and Adam Kopec. Their teachers have described them as hardworking, enthusiastic, and real leaders in the school community. These students portray consistent exemplary behaviour and grades.
The Buaic Chloch (Student of the Year) for the girls went to Allanah Pappas, Angelica Di Tillio and Sofia Flores. From excellent grades in all subjects to involvement in sports and leadership roles, all three girls excel at absolutely everything they do. The words phenomenal, outstanding, and inspirational were used by teachers to describe the Buaic Chloch winners and this makes them exceptional ambassadors for our school.
To acknowledge the student voice, GCC presented a Student Choice Award; the winners were nominated and selected by the students themselves. This award is acknowledging a unique characteristic or trait seen by their peers in one particular student that may often goes unnoticed, something that the students feel is valuable and important to acknowledge. The award was presented by Haylie Foley, Chairperson of the Student Leadership Team to award winners Laila Boufarsee, Evan Darcy and Dasha Minaieva.
There were also silver plates presented to the student who excelled in each individual academic subject recognising the schools continued focus on the academics. Notable mentions to Elliot Wright, Jack Deegan, Eva Gaube, Pola Kedziora, Angelica Di Tillio, Abigail Langrell, Sofia Flores, Holly Cheevers and Adam Kopec who were acknowledged as some of our academic award winners.
Achievements in sport were also celebrated and sports awards were presented to the winners from our recent sports day. The 100metre champions, Lucas de Olivera Constantino, Ella Dallaghan, Aaron Byrne and Abi Moran were all presented with medals. The 400 metre champions were Lucas de Oliviera Constantino and Seren Stamper Walsh. Two students from each year group were also selected as Sports person of the year with the awards going to Lucas de Oliviera Constantino, Laura Stanley, Isaac Carcone, Lucy Tyndall, Yasmine Judge and Callum Halpin Rooney. A special recognition award was presented to Seren Stamper Walshe for her commitment to and success in the field of cross country and track and field athletics.
Accolades in extra curricular activities were also presented with special mention going to National award winners such as the BT young scientist finalists, Maths Pi Champions, Gaeltacht Scholarship Award winners and National Poetry Aloud winners.
Student Leadership is central to the ethos of Greystones Community College and awards were presented to the Student Leadership Team, the Green Schools Leadership Team, Amber Flag Leadership Team and JigSaw One Good School Leadership Team for their leadership. The new Student Ambassadors for 2023/2024 were also announced. These students will mentor and support our incoming first year students and will be role models for them in the year to come. In total, 68 students received leadership awards at the awards day, to acknowledge the great contribution our students have made in leading and developing our new school.
Concluding the awards ceremony, Principal Ruairi Farrell paid tribute to the staff and students of the school who bought into the vision we all share for GCC. ‘I am very proud today to celebrate all these successes with you our amazing students, to think how far we have come on this journey and to reflect on all you have accomplished. I am so proud to think about the many exciting adventures, opportunities and successes lie ahead for each and every student here in the years ahead’.