The Graduation Mass for our Leaving Cert class of 2024/25 was held on Thursday 22nd of May. The cermony was held in our Sports Hall. In attendances were parents, family, friends, staff, students and of course the class themselves. The evening marks the ending of the students time in GCS. Fr. Anthaiah along with Fr. Mooney celebrated the last mass for these students in our school as they face into their Leaving Cert exams and then part on their seperate ways in life.
The evening started with the class entering the hall in pairs wearing their graduation gowns to music by our ensemble. Mr. Duignan welcomed all in his opening speech and wished the class well in their future endeavours with the hope that the dreams of the Class of 2025 would come true. He urged them not to take anything for granted, to stay focused in the coming weeks and to try to do your best. Finally, as always, he asked them to mind themselves and each other and not to get too distracted in the coming weeks during the exams. During the cermony, members of the class read or sang as well as bringing up gifts to the altar. Tomás Lee and Rebecca Joyce, as valadictorians, spoke on behalf of thier classmates about their time in GCS, highlighting the up and downs, trips and events, the craic and the laughter. They spoke on how they started in GCS by wearing masks in first year due to Covid, the loss of extra currilar that year and then the release from it in second year to go trips to places like Killary, skiing in Poland, France mixed with all the sporting achievements of Connacht and All Ireland victories. They thanked all those who had helped them and thier classmates during their time at the school. They presented their yearheads, Ms. Madden and Ms. Hession with a gift as a thank you for thier efforts with them over their time in the school.
Ms. Madden and Ms. Hession then gave a joint speech. They spoke on how the parents/guardians should be so proud of their graduates and how they have come through their time in the school. They both spoke about the tough start with Covid, the air breaks, the online teaching and all the excuses that were used to avoid sitting in front of that screen. They said that everyone should be proud of their own journery as everyones has been different and that they have created a bond with each other that will endure the test of time and they will always be able to remember their time with each other in GCS. Finally, Ms. Madden and Ms. Hession called out the names of all students as they were presented with a bookmark from Mr. Duignan and Ms Hardiman and took thier place for the class photo.
Many thanks to all involved in making the night such a success; staff, students, parents and Fr. Anthaiah in particular for celebrating the graduation mass with us.
View a slideshow of photos from our mass by clicking on the photo below
