A large number of students from north Westmeath were among the more than 2,100 people who were conferred with awards at Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT) last week.
Among those to receive awards was Orlagh Petticrew from Ballymahon Road, Mullingar who along with her conferring of a Higher Certificate in Science in Dental Nursing, was also announced as the inaugural winner of the Patricia Kearney Memorial Award. Patricia Kearney was AIT’s pioneering and popular Disability Liaison Officer, who passed away in September 2013.
During the two years of her course, Orlagh overcame many personal challenges, including the passing of her father, as well as family illness experienced by her husband and son. Herself a diabetic, Orlagh arranged a Westmeath-based diabetes conference, encouraging her classmates to set up a stand demonstrating the impact of sugar in the diet, to give advice on dental care and to promote oral health in diabetics. The Memorial Award was presented by Patricia Kearney’s parents, Seán and Nancy Kearney, Arcadia, Athlone.
In his address, AIT president Prof Ciarán Ó Catháin said that “those graduating today have made extraordinarily difficult decisions, attempting to balance so many competing claims, trying to do the best for themselves and their families”.
Their decision to go to college was made in the face of the worst economic recession in memory. He “supported wholeheartedly,” he said, the graduates’ faith that “higher education can help make things better for yourself and those dear to you. And, I am grateful that we have been part of your journey.”
He criticized government policy, however, for “ignoring the needs of our increasingly diverse student population”. He accused the politicians of paying “mere lip service to the very colleges they say are key drivers for economic recovery”.
“We have made the cut-backs, achieved efficiencies now is the time for investment in third level if the great progress we have made over the past several decades is not to be severely undermined,” stated Prof Ó Cathain.
The president also referenced AIT’s ambition to become a technological university in his graduation address. “The vision to become a TU,” he stated, “involves the amplification of the very best aspects of what we do.” He highlighted examples of AIT’s best practice, ranging from research for a treatment for pneumonia, through to award-winning students and social activism on campus.
