Mullingar Community College principal ‘very proud’ of his Leaving Certs

Mullingar Community College principal Seamus Mohan said that he was “very proud” of the cohort of Leaving Cert students who got their results on Friday last.

This is the first group of Leaving Certs nationally who have gone into their final secondary-level exams without having the prior experience of sitting the Junior Cert which, of course, was called off due to the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. They’ve since had to deal with further lockdowns as the virus spread throughout the country, resulting in restructured or online classes and isolation from their peers.

This didn’t faze them however, and the group of 47 students at Mullingar Community College were both relieved and happy with their results.

“We had 47 altogether – 38 sitting the Leaving Cert and nine sitting the LCA [Leaving Cert Applied]. It’s a small cohort, but there are benefits to that small cohort. You get to know them all, and their families as well,” Mr Mohan told the Westmeath Examiner, as he handed out results scripts on Friday morning.

“They’re coming in since 11.30am and they’re all happy. Some of them have got their results online. One or two haven’t looked and the old fear is still there!

“It’s a milestone day. We’re so proud of them. The last two to three years have been very disrupted. We’ve had a lot of students who’ve had Covid; family members have had Covid, and we’ve had students who’ve had bereavements in their family because of Covid.

“So for getting to this day we’re very proud of them. We’re proud of what they’ve achieved, and they’re proud of themselves, which is the main thing.”

After a tough few years, the Leaving Certs at MCC are getting a well-deserved break, but most of them are thinking ahead and have their next steps mapped out, Mr Mohan explained.

“Speaking to some of them, they kind of have their plans mapped out for the year ahead, whether its to go to college or take a year out and work. A lot of them are going to Sligo and Limerick. So it’s good to see that they have their plans mapped out,” he said.

“As we always say, there’s a course and route for everyone. The Leaving Cert is just one little hurdle on life’s journey to get them where they’re going to. On behalf of the staff, I want to wish them the best of luck, and the best of luck to all students who got their results today.”

The principal said that languages and the sciences are among the subjects where students have excelled this year.

“We’re only doing the analysis at the moment. The results are good, and that’s a trend that appears to be repeated across the country. Modern foreign languages is very strong this year, and we’ve had a couple of H1s in that area, so we’re very happy with that,” he added.

“Traditional science subjects are very popular and we’ve had some good results in that area, so that probably reflects the growing trend towards science popularity increases across the country. It’s something we’re pushing here and something we’ll keep pushing.”

Among those picking up their scripts on Friday morning was Mullingar man Hugh Maxwell, who was pleasantly surprised with his outcome. He earned a H2 in Engineering, and plans to study architecture in Sligo.

Billy O’Brien, originally from London, said that he is “happy to be done” after a tough four months of study. His strongest result was English, and he is relaxed about the future, saying that he was looking forward first and foremost to the post-Leaving Cert celebrations.

Two other students, Mullingar men Aaron Russell and Bobby Archibold, were marking their Leaving Cert results by heading for training at Mullingar Shamrocks and Mullingar Athletic respectively later on Friday evening.

Both of them were “delighted” with their results, and both were happy to have achieved a higher grade than they expected in Irish, which Aaron described as a “tough, horrible exam”. Aaron is set to pursue an apprenticeship as an electrician, while Bobby is going to serve his time as either a plumber or a carpenter.

Three young women who were over the moon with their results at MCC – Jade Byrne, Eva McGlynn and Allie Nevin – plan to go into the hair and beauty industry.

Jade was “delighted” to have passed her exams – particularly Engineering, which she found gruelling. Allie was very happy with her performance too, and plans to return to MCC to do a beauty PLC.

Eva McGlynn, meanwhile, is relieved to have finishes and was delighted with her results. She plans to go into the “family business” by studying beauty.

Meanwhile, Sorcha Burke, also from Mullingar, was “delighted” with her Leaving Cert results, bringing a “weird” couple of years of Covid lockdowns and remote schooling to an end. Sorcha works in a bar, and says she will continue at that for a year before deciding what to do next.