Two Cork students were awarded the €20,000 Naughton Foundation Scholarship at a ceremony in Trinity Business School in Dublin at the weekend.
The Naughton Foundation Scholarship Award was introduced in 2008, being awarded to over 350 students since. The scheme started in three counties and has continued to expand annually to become a nationwide scheme in 2016. There is one guaranteed scholarship worth €20,000 for each participating county, with some counties awarded more than one scholarship and each scholarship is worth €5,000 per annum for each year of a student’s three- or four-year undergraduate degree.
Alan O'Sullivan, former student of Coláiste Choilm is the first recipient of the award and is studying Mechanical Engineering at MTU. The second scholarship recipent is Christian Brothers College student Fearghal Desmond, who is studying Engineering at UCC.
Alan and Fearghal both join 37 exceptional Irish students who were awarded third level scholarships towards their studies in the areas of engineering, science, technology, and maths. Both prize winner’s former secondary schools Coláiste Choilm and Christian Brothers College were awarded a prize of €1000 each towards their school’s science facilities, for their support of these students. More than 250 schools have also benefited from this prize to date with some schools receiving it on more than one occasion.
Speaking about the growth and development of the programme over the past fourteen years, Dr. Martin Naughton has said:
“We started supporting students in their science and engineering studies in Louth, Meath, and Monaghan in 2008 to give back to our local area. We never imagined what a wonderful community of connected young people the Naughton Scholarship programme would become. Our Alumni are an incredible group working in the best Universities, research institutes and businesses across the world. Each year we hear back from them on the value of this network to them and the connections it has given them across disciplines and Ireland. They are a wonderful group of young people that are all giving back to society in their own way that we are very proud to be connected with.”
