Athy CollegeSchool and Community News

Sadly Missed

Nora O'Connor RIP, who retired from The Collegejust 14 months ago sadly passed away on 6th Julylast. As a teacher, as a friend, and as a colleague,Nora was unforgettable and irreplaceable. In herdeath we have all lost a truly great soul. In theclassroom, Nora was inspiring, funny, and profound,and the depth of her knowledge was breath-taking.Nora loved learning and, in the classroom, she wasuniquely able to communicate that love to students.She changed the thinking and indeed the lives of somany of the students she touched with her inspiredteaching. Nora gave fully of her time, resources,and ski 11 to any student who wanted help. She wasthe backbone of the Religious Education depart-ment and was involved in every aspect of religion inAthy College, be it the "Sacred Space", GraduationLiturgies, Penitential Rites, Operation ChristmasChild, Trocaire campaigns, school masses, to namebut a few. Gratitude, humility, courage, fair-mindedness, humour, intelligence, generosity and anenduring personal honesty were the hallmarks ofher professional life. Nora is survived by her daugh-ters Joan, Aileen and Olivia and her sisters andbrother, to whom we extend our deepest sympathy.Nora is deeply missed in Athy College by staff,students and parents alike.

Dec 2011Free Publication

Recent RetirementsCongratulations to John O'Dwyer, teacher of DCG, andComputers; Shirley Butler, Home, School and CommunityLiaison Officer; John Clooney teacher of MTW and Engi-neering and Micheline Purcell, teacher of Mathematics andScience, all of whom recently retired from their teachingposts at Athy College. Their retirements are a great lossto the College, as these staff members contributed somuch with their talents and expertise over a wide area ofsubjects. These dedicated teachers gave selflessly oftheir time and will be missed by staff and students alike.Their retirements were celebrated at a function attendedby staff, family and friends and a presentation was madeto them on behalf of their colleagues.Below, left to right;- Dr Breda Sunderland, Deputy Princi-pal, Mr Richard Daly, Principal, Mr Sean Ashe, C.E.O.Kildare V.E.C., Mr John Doyle, former Principal, MrsShirley Butler, Mr John O'Dwyer and Mr John Clooney.

On left Mrs. Micheline Purcellwho recently retired from thecollege, where she taught Mathe-matics and Science.The staff and students at thecollege wish to congratulate allof them and wish them long andhappy retirements.

Athy College "Dedicated to fostering educational excellence, empowering all students to reach their full potential"

Athy CollegeSchool and Community News

Sadly Missed

Nora O'Connor RIP, who retired from The Collegejust 14 months ago sadly passed away on 6th Julylast. As a teacher, as a friend, and as a colleague,Nora was unforgettable and irreplaceable. In herdeath we have all lost a truly great soul. In theclassroom, Nora was inspiring, funny, and profound,and the depth of her knowledge was breath-taking.Nora loved learning and, in the classroom, she wasuniquely able to communicate that love to students.She changed the thinking and indeed the lives of somany of the students she touched with her inspiredteaching. Nora gave fully of her time, resources,and ski 11 to any student who wanted help. She wasthe backbone of the Religious Education depart-ment and was involved in every aspect of religion inAthy College, be it the "Sacred Space", GraduationLiturgies, Penitential Rites, Operation ChristmasChild, Trocaire campaigns, school masses, to namebut a few. Gratitude, humility, courage, fair-mindedness, humour, intelligence, generosity and anenduring personal honesty were the hallmarks ofher professional life. Nora is survived by her daugh-ters Joan, Aileen and Olivia and her sisters andbrother, to whom we extend our deepest sympathy.Nora is deeply missed in Athy College by staff,students and parents alike.

Dec 2011Free Publication

Recent RetirementsCongratulations to John O'Dwyer, teacher of DCG, andComputers; Shirley Butler, Home, School and CommunityLiaison Officer; John Clooney teacher of MTW and Engi-neering and Micheline Purcell, teacher of Mathematics andScience, all of whom recently retired from their teachingposts at Athy College. Their retirements are a great lossto the College, as these staff members contributed somuch with their talents and expertise over a wide area ofsubjects. These dedicated teachers gave selflessly oftheir time and will be missed by staff and students alike.Their retirements were celebrated at a function attendedby staff, family and friends and a presentation was madeto them on behalf of their colleagues.Below, left to right;- Dr Breda Sunderland, Deputy Princi-pal, Mr Richard Daly, Principal, Mr Sean Ashe, C.E.O.Kildare V.E.C., Mr John Doyle, former Principal, MrsShirley Butler, Mr John O'Dwyer and Mr John Clooney.

On left Mrs. Micheline Purcellwho recently retired from thecollege, where she taught Mathe-matics and Science.The staff and students at thecollege wish to congratulate allof them and wish them long andhappy retirements.

Athy College "Dedicated to fostering educational excellence, empowering all students to reach their full potential"

Athy College Science Weekg

The Athy College Science Department ran a numberof events in conjunction with National Science Weekto promote the use and importance of science in everyday life. The first event on the calendar took place onMonday of that week when 4th class from Scoil Phad-raig Naofa Primary School were invited to Athy Col-lege to watch and participate in a "Science Show" or-ganised by science teachers Ms. Mulvihill and Mrs.Brennan. These enthusiastic students were delightedwith the opportunity to experience the excellent sci-ence lab facilities at Athy College and to take part infun science experiments.5th and 6th year students of Biology and Chemistryattended a lecture at National University of Ireland,Maynooth during Science Week 2011. This lecture wasentitled: Chemical Weapons on the War on Diseaseand was given by the charismatic NUIM lecturerMalachy McCann. This fascinating lecture delved intothe discovery of the chemicals used to fight disease.Also during the week students were asked to carryout their own science experiments. With great enthu-siasm shown by all, students quickly set about re-searching and conducting their chosen experiment.

Fundraising for Goal

Athy College Fifth year LCVP (Leaving Certificate Vo-cational Programme) students with Karen O'Shea of the'Goal' Charity Organisation. Karen visited the studentson Tuesday 25th Oct., to speak on the work that Goal doaround the world. The students raised a total of €317as part of Goal Jersey day, held recently in the school.The LCVP class presented Karen with a cheque on be-half of the students of Athy College.

Congratulations

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Congratulations to two veryhappy past pupils, RachelWhelan and Stacey Lawlerwho recently graduated.Rachel seen here on leftgraduated with a BachelorsDegree (Honours) in Busi-ness Management from TheInstitute of TechnologyCarlow. Rachel is currentlystudying for a Masters inBusiness Management inWaterford Institute ofTechnology.

Stacey Lawler below, left

graduated with Bachelor of

Arts degree in Applied So-

cial Studies from The Insti-

tute of Technology, Carlow.

We wish them both well in

their future studies and

careers

After School Study Operation Visit to NCADChristmas chi Id

Supervised after school study isavailable to all students at the Col-lege. It takes p lace from Monday toThursday from 4.15pm - 5.45pm.There is no charge. Teacher givetheir time voluntarily to superviseevening study. Thank you to Miss C.O'Connor for organising the rota.

Above, 5th year students, accom-panied by their Art teacher, MsMary Cunningham enjoying a trip

Athy College has once again taken to The National College of Art andpart in Operation Christmas Child. Design, where they took part in aOur students have donated dozens portfolio brief discussion and aof shoe boxes containing gifts, for tour of 1st year Art studentsdispatch to children in countries studios. A very enjoyable day wasravaged by war and poverty. Well had by all.done to all for your generosity.

Third year Trip to Baltinglass Outdoor Education Centre

A rainy start didn't dampen spirits of the third year students on their recent trip to Baltinglass Outdoor Educa-tion Centre accompanied by their teacher Ms Deirdre Murphy . A fantastic day was had by all. Students took partin wall climbing, abseiling, canoeing, archery and orienteering. Thanks to the SCP for its support.

Athy College "Dedicated to fostering educational excellence, empowering all students to reach their full potential"

GumFree LitterCampaign

On Thursday, 17th November twoactors came to talk to us about notlittering with our gum. They actedthe role of a reporter from the"Nationalist" and the man acted as astreet cleaner. The " street clecner"told us he was "the invisible man"because when he was cleaning nobodysees him and they just spit out theirgum onto the ground.Then the two actors acted a dramawith some students about Eminemand chewing gum. We learned thatspitting gum onto the ground iswrong, especially as the people clean-ing it spend so much time cleaning itup. People may not realise it coststhousands of euro each year just toclean chewing gum from the streetsof our towns.

Animation Lecture

Great excitement as past pupil Sea-mus Malone, famous for his work onChicken Run, Wallace and Grommit,Shaun the Sheep, gave a lecture andworkshop on animation to a capacitycrowd in the college recently. Seamusreceived an Emmy for his directionof Shaun the Sheep last year andgave the audience a great insight intohow animation really works.

Sports Programme

Above the Athy College Junior LadiesGaelic team. Congratulations also toAthy College u15 boys soccer teamfor their great win over the CurraghPost primary School. The girls volley-ball team is also dong us proud withrecent games against Holy FamilyCollege, Newbridge and St. Mary'sCollege Naas. The school table tennischampion is also due to be announcedin the coming week.

Library NewsWe are delighted that our schoollibrary is now stocked with newbooks and is open for borrowing eachday at lunchtime.First and second year Book Clubs aremeeting regularly and are currentlyreading novels by Kate Thompsonand Mary Arrigan. Twenty-fourfirst years met Mary Arrigan atAthy Town Library recently and en-joyed listening to her reading ex-tracts from her work.

Mary Arrigan reading to First Yearsat Athy Town Library.

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Ladies Gaelic teamFor the first time ever in AthyCollege the Ladies Gaelic teamtook part in the Junior Competi-tion this year. Their first gamewas against Tullow CommunitySchool and the Athy College girlsshowed fantastic skill, persever-ance and teamwork in atrociousweather conditions. Unfortu-nately they were narrowly beatenby a more experienced side. De-spite this, the weather and de-feat did not dampen their spirits.Our second game against Gael-scoil Carlow, in CastlemitchellGAA pitch was a truly nail bitingexperience. Athy showed an out-standing display of grit and de-termination , where at one stagethese amazing girls were 13points down but worked tirelesslyto regain a lead of 5 points.Credit must be given to GaelscoilCarlow who persevered andbrought the game level. Thisgame was certainly not for thefaint hearted as both teamsmatched each other score forscore. With 7 minutes to go,Gaelscoil Carlow scored a goal.Athy narrowed the gap with animmediate response and scored agreat point. The Carlow girls thenscored another goal in the dyingminutes of the game. Unfortu-nately time ran out for the Athygirls. The final score was 5-5 toAthy College and 7-4 to GaelscoilCarlow.Each member of the Athy team.gave a great performance and noone player could be singled out.Well done to all students in-volved, they were absolutelyamazing and a special thank youto the sixth year LCA Students,Damiell Moore, Laura Furlong andMelissa 0 Neill who were involvedin the training of the team. Inthe words of LCA student Melissao Neill, "The girls did us proud".