News & Announcements
Annual Student Awards for the B.Ed. in Physical Education, Sports Studies and Arts Programme
The following B.Ed. in Physical Education, Sports Studies and Arts (PESSA) Programme graduates of 2023 recently received awards on the 20th October:
- Robyn Sheehan - ‘Award for Academic Excellence 2023’
- Kate Dooley – ‘The Eamonn Ryan Role Model Award 2023’
- Sean Murphy and Danú Ní Thuama jointly received - ‘The Oisín Kelly Above and Beyond Award 2023’.
A special mention must also be flagged with respect to the Oisín Kelly Above and Beyond Award – Oisín passed away recently on the 10th August of this year, and his legacy to the PESSA programme will be forever remembered by naming this annual student Above and Beyond Award after this incredibly resilient and brave young man from Carlow. We are very proud here in UCC to have gotten to know Oisín, when he joined the BEDSSPE programme in September 2020 as a first year undergraduate student from Myshall in Co Carlow.
In his first year of study, this very tall young man made a significant impression to all of our team and all of his peers for many reasons – his good humour, his kindness, his love for the subject matter and of course his love for Carlow GAA. Unfortunately, Oisín became unwell in 2021 with a cancer diagnosis, during his second year of studies, however, despite having a very challenging illness, he was forever visible and present in our programme from 2021 to 2023. On the 20th October, it was lovely for our team and students to be able to be in the same room as Oisín’s parents Brendan and Sinead, and Oisín’s girlfriend, our current Year 4 student Mairéad Bennett.
Our colleagues have such fond memories of Oisín going above and beyond his port of call as a student during his 3 years with us at UCC. Outside of his outstanding peer connections to the class and of course his studies, our School and Programme are deeply connected to Oisín this year, and we have no doubt that he is still helping his 4th year peers to do their daily lesson plans and school placement work from afar. From this year onwards in the PESSA degree, the Above and Beyond Award will be celebrated in UCC, while always remembering one of our great students, Oisín Kelly from County Carlow.
Below pictured are Robyn Sheehan, recipient of the Award for Academic Excellence 2023, alongside Prof. Nicola Ingram, Head of the School of Education and Dr Wesley O' Brien, Programme director
and Kate Dooley, recipient of the The Eamonn Ryan Role Model Award 2023, with Dr Wesley O Brien, Programme director.
