CBS Awards 2003

Front - Keenan Noone, Jamie Fitzsimons, William Gibbons, Richard Meagher, John Paul Dunning; Back - Patrick Hyland and John Lahart. Missing - Stanley Hoi and Paul O’Connor).

08 October 2003: Monday night was a busy night in Meánscoil Iognáid Rís (Naas CBS Secondary School) with the annual meeting for parents and the presentation of a number of awards to Leaving Certificate 2003 students.

Welcoming the parents, teachers and students to the awards presentation, principal Noel Merrick said it was a most pleasant occasion for the school.

However, he said a downside was the fact that there were not enough awards for everyone. “Tonight, we take a sample of students. For every one person we could have seven nominations,” he added.

Special Achievement Awards went to Paul O’Connor (class captain three years running, represented the school history team and won a Gaeltacht scholarship - now studing to be a teacher); William Gibbons (represented the school U/14 GAA, U/16 Player of the Year for Sallins, now studying in Trinity College Dublin); John Paul Dunning (involved in building stages and sets and now an apprentice carpenter); Stanley Hui (who came to Ireland from Hong Kong two years ago with little English, became a prefect, and is now studying accountancy in DCU); Jamie Fitzsimons (for personal commitment in work, now studying civil engineering in Carlow); Patrick Hyland (class captain, prefect, an outstanding chairperson of the Student Council last year); and Richard Meagher (all round excellence, represented the school in golf and hurling).

The Sports Award went to Keelan Noone who played Gaelic football for five years and won the South Leinster in 2001, and was a member of the Midland Soccer Team and plays for the U/18s for Kildare County.

The David Phelan Award for the best project in Construction Studies went to Tim Dunleavy. Tim achieved an ‘A’ in woodwork and technical drawing and is pictured on right above with his teacher Rory Purcell.

The James Fanning Award for the best Leaving Certificate student each year was awarded jointly to Colm Byrne and John Lahart (above with Noel Merrick). John is now studying law in TCD and Colm is studying medicine in UCD. The award is in memory of a former pupil who died in his 20s from cancer after graduating with a law degree.

The Dennis Dunning Award was awarded jointly to Joseph Roche and Peter Fay (above). Peter was involved in six musicals over his years in Naas CBS, was captain of the school golf team, a prefect, and won the National No Name Club Host title of the year. Mr Merrick said he was ‘an outstanding ambassador for his family and for the whole school’. Peter is studying nursing in Dundalk IT. The award is awarded each year by the staff and school in memory of their late colleague.

Joseph represented the school in sport, was a class captain, and worked on art work for the school’s musicals. He won Naas Credit Union’s bursary and was ‘the best interviewee they ever game across’. He is now studying Science in Trinity College Dublin.

Mr Merrick thanked everyone for attending the awards ceremony, especially the families of the boys who had come back in force. “The function means a lot to us all,” he told them, adding they had been ‘terrific lads each and every one of them’.