Pictures: Carlow College St. Patrick's Class of 2023 celebrated their graduation in style!

Carlow College St. Patrick's Class of 2023 celebrated their graduation last week, on Friday 24th November.

A ceremony was held in Carlow Cathedral to celebrate all one-hundred and eighty-nine graduates across undergraduate degrees in Arts & Humanities, English & History, Social, Political & Community Studies, and Applied Social Studies. This year also saw twelve graduates from the MA Leadership in Therapeutic Child and Social Care programme and fourteen graduates from the Certificate in Therapeutic Foster Care, which is run in collaboration with TUSLA.

The College welcomed back alumni, Donnchadh O’Mahony of the Leaving Cert Guidance podcast and Aisling Burke, Residential Service Manager for Compass Child and Family Services to deliver the keynote addresses at the graduation.

Speaking of the ceremony, Dr Thomas McGrath, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Registrar of Carlow College said: “Today we congratulate our new graduates and celebrate their achievements so far. They are a credit to the College and I have no doubt they will go on to prosper in their chosen career paths”.

Carlow College President, Fr Conn Ó Maoldhomhnaigh warmly congratulated the graduates who come from eighteen different counties across Ireland. “As College President, it is my pleasure and privilege to acknowledge the exceptional achievements of all of our graduates.  They have been part of our journey over the past three to four years and we wish them the very best as they continue on their own individual paths.”

In addition to conferring of the awards, a number of prizes and awards were presented to students who excelled in their chosen disciplines. The award winners were:

Carlow County Council Bursary Award

Anne Marie Dunne - BA (Hons) in Arts & Humanities
Miriam Sticht - BA (Hons) in English & History
Natasha Scully - BA (Hons) in Social, Political & Community Studies
Debra Sherlock – BA (Hons) in Applied Social Studies (Professional Social Care)

Award for BA in Applied Social Studies (Professional Social Care)

Miriam Ryan

Award for BA in Arts & Humanities

Colm Greene

Constance Markievicz Award

Kevin O’Neill

Lisa Benson

Henry Teesdale

Fr. Thomas McDonnell Delany Archive Research in History Prize

Miriam Sticht

Dr Anne Holton Award in Teaching Excellence

Grainne Scott

Gerry Morgan Award in Applied Social Studies for Excellence in Practice Placement

Ruth Redmond

Robert Frederick Holmes (1803) Award

Craig McLoughlin-Burke

Aaron Ferguson

Rev Dr John Cummins Interdisciplinary Prize

Rachel Kenny

James Fintan Lalor Student of the Year Award

Karen Wills

Photos courtesy of Michael O’Rourke Photography