Athlone student receives €20k academic scholarship
Athlone student Aisling Benson has been awarded a coveted scholarship worth up to €20,000.
Aisling, who has accepted a place at University College Dublin studying Science, was one of 36 scholars awarded the Naughton Foundation Scholarship this year.
On Saturday last, the former Our Lady's Bower student was awarded the scholarship at a ceremony in the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, Trinity College Dublin.
She was one of 36 exceptional Irish students honoured by the Naughton Foundation Scholarships awarding them third level scholarships towards their studies in the areas of engineering, science and technology.
Since its establishment in 2008 Naughton Foundation Scholarships worth over €4 million have been presented to 175 remarkable young people in the fields of science, engineering and technology in publicly funded third level institutions in Ireland, north and south.
In 2008 the scheme started in three counties and has continued to expand annually to become the nationwide program it is today.
Speaking about the growth of the foundation over the past ten years, Carmel Naughton said: “Ten years ago we envisaged a small scholarship program to help support local students studying the STEM subjects. We never imagined this group of over 200 students and alumni nationwide who are connected across the universities and STEM disciplines and we couldn’t be more proud of the unique community they are developing”
“Our reason for starting this program was to help young students in what were then seen as difficult and unattractive subject areas. When we meet these young researchers, engineers and mathematicians I am very happy knowing that we have invested in Ireland’s wealth creators of the future,” said Martin Naughton
There is one guaranteed scholarship (€20,000) for each participating county, with the exception of Cork, Galway where there are two scholarships awarded and Dublin where there are four scholarships awarded. Five additional scholarships are also awarded. Each scholarship is worth €5,000 per annum for each year of a student’s three or four year undergraduate degree.
Aisling’s former secondary school, Our Lady’s Bower in Athlone, was also presented with a prize of €1,000 towards their school’s science facilities, for their support of these students. More than 140 schools have benefited from this prize to date with some schools receiving it on more than one occasion.
Ballymahon student Derek Shaw received the Longford scholarship. A former student of Mercy Secondary School, Ballymahon, Derek is studying Engineering in University College Dublin.