Tipperary Education and Training Board held their annual Student Awards ceremony in LIT, Thurles on Friday, 29^th September, 2017. The awards ceremony is held annually to acknowledge the outstanding achievements of the students who attended the Post Primary Schools under the remit of the Tipperary ETB. This event is significant in the Tipperary ETB calendar each year.

Students are presented with an award and a certificate under the following categories:

• Best Leaving Certificate,
• Best Leaving Certificate Applied,
• Personal Achievement and
• Best Sporting Achievement.

The students have all received their post primary education at one of the eleven ETB schools in Tipperary namely;

• Newport College;
• Coláiste Dun Iascaigh, Cahir;
• Nenagh College;
• Coláiste Chluain Meala, Clonmel;
• Gaelcholáiste Chéitinn, Clonmel;
• Borrisokane Community College;
• Comeragh College, Carrick-on-Suir;
• Coláiste Phobal Ros Cré;
• Ailbe’s, Tipperary Town;
• Coláiste Mhuire Co-Ed., Thurles; and
• Scoil Ruáin, Killenaule

These awards are in recognition of the efforts of students, teachers and schools to achieve continuous improvements and excellence in their academic studies and personal development.

Ms. Fionuala McGeever, Chief Executive of Tipperary ETB opened the ceremony by welcoming the Chairperson, Director of Schools, Guest Speakers, TETB Members, TETB Staff Members; Principals, Deputy Principals and Staff from the eleven schools, award recipients, their families and friends.

Cllr. John Hogan, Chairperson of Tipperary ETB welcomed all in attendance and congratulated Fionuala and the staff of Tipperary ETB on their excellent work providing quality education and training services throughout the County. He expressed his gratitude for his invitation to the event and wished the students, teachers and staff of Tipperary ETB all the best in the future and hoped that they would all go on to continue to do great things.

Mr. Terry Twomey, Vice President Academic Affair & Registrar LIT spoke and extended his apologies on behalf of President of LIT, Professor Vincent Cunnane who could not attend the event due to prior work commitments abroad. He commended the excellent work being done by Tipperary ETB and spoke of his delight that Tipperary ETB chose the LIT, Thurles campus as the venue for their Annual Student Awards. He congratulated the award recipients and encouraged them to go on and achieve great things.

Ms. Fionuala McGeever then invited the room to stand with her to welcome the special guest for the evening, All Ireland winning, Tipperary Ladies Football Manager Mr. Shane Ronayne and, Tipperary Ladies Football Captain Samantha Lambert. Fionuala spoke of the wonderful achievements achieved by these two guests on a personal, sporting and work basis. Mr. Ronayne is currently a teacher in Coláiste Dun Iascaigh, and Samantha teaches in Comeragh College, Carrick-on-Suir. Samantha herself received the TETB award for Best Sporting Achievements in Colaiste Dun Iascaigh in 2009. Shane and Samantha both spoke of their recent sporting successes and on the importance of finding the right balance between work and play. Samantha congratulated the recipients on their success and encouraged all to keep pushing forward, aim high and achieve big.

The Chairperson of Tipperary ETB, Cllr. John Hogan and Chief Executive Ms. Fionuala McGeever presented the awards to the recipients, calling on the Principal of each School to present their citations about each of the recipients. The awardees were as follows:

Ms. McGeever then closed the ceremony by thanking all for attending this momentous occasion. She congratulated the students and wished them well for the future.  She gave some inspiring words for each of the recipients. She encouraged all students to get involved in their local communities wherever they may settle in the future and asked them to remember “excellence is not an act but a habit”. She also paid tribute to their teachers, parents/guardians and thanked them for choosing and ETB education for their children.