Junior Prizegiving

A fabulous Junior Prizegiving event was held at St Louis Grammar School, Kilkeel, with past pupil Caitlin Sands returning as guest speaker.

Head Boy and Head Girl, Euan McIntosh and Lucy Curran introduced the event and Principal, Mr Kevin Martin, congratulated all the award winners and emphasised how the educational experience at St Louis is one that “educates the whole person, going beyond the academic side which is so important by realising that there are many other aspects to life which are also very important.” He cited the wide ranging extra curricular offerings that are available in the school along with some of the disciplines in which students have enjoyed great individual and team success in the past year and the opportunities pupils get to go on trips, attend talks and workshops and immerse themselves in the community while studying in St Louis.

Guest speaker, Caitlin, then came to the stage and offered the students lots of brilliant advice, taking them through her journey from setting foot in St Louis for the first time, sitting at events like Junior Prizegiving through to now returning to speak at the event. Caitlin, an engineer, specialises in biomedical design and is at the frontline of exciting new developments that could help to dramatically increase the availability of cutting-edge medical science and procedures in poorer countries across the world. Her message to the pupils was a simple on though – to persevere. Caitlin said, “Keep going. Success often grows quietly from the effort you put in every day. Stay curious, stay organised and stay open to learning. You have more potential than you realise.”

It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon where some of the achievements of students over the course of the academic year were recognised and where everybody present left the hall feeling motivated and inspired.