A group of young people from Laois have been honoured at the 2024 Laois/Offaly Garda Divisional Youth Awards, held in the Killeshin Hotel in Portlaoise.
Students from St Mary’s CBS Portlaoise received a Special Recognition Award for how they came to terms with a tremendous amount of personal loss over the course of a two-year period.
Last year, students David Brown and Ronan McNamara both sadly passed away. They were both just 15-years-old.
A Garda Youth Award recognises the outstanding achievement of young people between the ages of 13 and 21, who have undertaken exceptional work in their local communities or who have shown great determination in their own lives.
“The student Community of St Mary’s CBS, Portlaoise have suffered enormous loss during the school year of 2022-2023,” said Ms Maura Murphy, Principal at St Mary’s CBS, who nominated the group.
“Two students from the school died tragically. Two other students lost a sibling each. Five students tragically lost a parent.
“The impact of one such loss would be huge but the impact of such devastating loss on the level experienced by the students of St Mary’s CBS is difficult to put into words.
“The School Management recognised this and opened their doors to community groups such as the National Educational Psychologists and the GAA.
“With the support of these groups, the school staff and the staff counsellors guided the student community through this very difficult year.
“Fr Vard, our school Chaplain provided valuable and constant support to the Staff and Student Community of St Mary’s CBS.”
This Special Recognition Award was presented to the school’s student community torecognise that they embraced the supports that were put in place and came together to grieve, mourn and remember those who had died, while also coming to terms with their own personal loss.
“The student community have shown their ability to comfort and support those who were bereaved by showing up in huge numbers at the funerals and by being there for each other during, and in the aftermath of, these tragedies,” Ms Murphy said.
“The students have been described by those who know them as generous, open and amazing from the perspective of how they have looked after each other.
“They have shown their ability to recognise the devastating impact that loss can have and that the grieving process can take a long time and may present in different ways.
“They have shown a deeper awareness of the importance of minding oneself and each other.
“They have shown that they know the importance of appreciating their parents, siblings and friends.
“They have shown great emotional awareness, have become stronger and have learned how to support each other during the most difficult of times.
“As a school community, the students have grown a lot in the last year and they are fully deserving of this Special Achievement Award for the way in which they have navigated an extremely difficult time with kindness and compassion.”
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