*Diarmuid Ryan.
CRATLOE’s Diarmuid Ryan was honoured with the outstanding achievement of the year award by Mary Immaculate College.
An All-Ireland and National Hurling League winner with Clare in 2024, Diarmuid was also to the fore for Mary Immaculate College as they were crowned Fitzgibbon Cup champions for the third time. He was also been nominated for an All Star for the third time.
Diarmuid’s achievements on the sporting field were recognised by Mary Immaculate College on graduation day where he was presented with the Outstanding Achievement of the Year Award for his endeavours.
He graduated with a Professional Master of Education (PME) in primary teaching. Diarmuid was awarded an MIC Gaelic Players Association Sports Scholarship in 2022 and again in 2023. He previously graduated from MIC with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He brought the Liam MacCarthy as one of his guests for the graduation ceremony.
Over 1,800 graduates were conferred with academic awards across the college’s fifty plus undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Education and the Liberal Arts in the institution’s 125th anniversary year.
Meelick’s Aisling Knox was awarded the Bachelor of Arts Gold Medals and Certificates for Highest Results in Drama & Theatre Studies.
Three days of on-campus conferring ceremonies saw graduates from across Ireland and five continents being honoured for a variety of achievements and journeys “filled with challenges, triumphs, and countless memories which will remain with you for a lifetime” as Prof. Niamh Hourigan, Acting President of MIC, eloquently put it.
Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Skills, Patrick O’Donovan (FG) TD, who is also an alumnus of MIC added his congratulations to the Class of 2024 on Friday morning—urging them all to enjoy their careers and embrace change. Drawing on his own experience as a primary school teacher and parent, he said, “In becoming a teacher, you get the greatest gift of all that can be given to anybody, which is the gift of being an educator. For those of us who are parents, every day of the week, we entrust to the teachers of Ireland the most important people in our lives: our children. It’s more than just a job. It’s more than just a vocation; it is a gift.”
