Engineering Award for St. Fergal's

Local Girl Strikes Gold at E.T.T.A. Engineer Awards

The Engineering Department at St. Fergal’s has done it again.

On Saturday 22nd November 2008, at the Young Engineer Awards Ceremony in the Mullingar Park Hotel, Annette Keeshan of St. Fergal’s was crowned the National Young Engineer of The Year for her Leaving Certificate Project. Annette is the first female student to have been awarded this prestigious prize.

It all started on Tuesday 7th October when Annette was awarded the E.T.T.A. Area 1 Gold Medal for her Leaving Certificate Engineering project and was then put forward to represent the area in the National Final.

The Young Engineer of the Year is an Annual Competition hosted by the Engineering and Technology Teachers Association (E.T.T.A.). These awards recognise pupils achievements and skills in both Junior and Leaving Certificate Engineering. These awards at Junior Cert level are based upon the highest grades achieved by both male and female students, whereas awards at Leaving Cert are based upon the ability of the student to design and manufacture a project from a given brief.
The 2008 Leaving Cert brief was to “Design and manufacture a vehicle capable of moving material around a building site as well as through various heights”. Annette’s chosen design resembled that of a teleporter which satisfied all aspects of the brief.

Annette is now following a career in Health and Safety at the University of Limerick. Her achievement marks the third time that students from St. Fergal’s have won the Area 1 award in the past four years, but it has been twenty five years since St. Fergal’s have won this much coveted national title.

The staff and students of St. Fergal’s congratulate Annette on bringing this title to the school and also to her teacher Mr. Patrick Keeshan for his continued work in the Engineering Department.