Athlone student Ruaidhri achieves perfect Honours Maths result

Not content with scoring an amazing 99% in his Leaving Certificate honours Mathematics examination, an Athlone student decided to have the paper rechecked only to discover that he is one of a tiny and very elite band of students to score a perfect 100% in the exam.

Ruaidhri Campion from Cornafulla is extremely modest about his remarkable achievement and admits that he has always loved Maths and never found it a difficult subject.

However, his teachers in Athlone's Marist College know just how much of a rarity it is to achieve 100% in honours Maths – as Ruaidhri is the first student in the school’s history to achieve the accolade!

Speaking to the Westmeath Independent when he returned to the Marist on Monday to accept a trophy to mark his perfect Maths score, the sofly-spoken student said he knew he had a flair for Maths from “very early on” and his aptitude for the subject was spotted when he was in Senior Infants in St Mary's Primary School.

“I can clearly remember Ms Maguire in St Mary's School doing Maths with me and she explained everything very well and I never had any problem understanding anything to do with numbers....I think I just got it,” says Ruaidhri.

While the Deputy Principal in the Marist College, Paul Kelly, himself a former Maths teacher, admits that there are “no official statistics” in relation to the numbers of students who achieve the top grade in honours Maths, he is pretty sure it is “extremely rare.”

“One in five of all our Leaving Cert students who sat honours Maths got a H1 which is well above the national average,” points out Paul Kelly “but we are extremely proud of Ruaidhri's achievement as it is means he never made one single mistake in either of his Maths papers, which is a remarkable result by any standard.”

Ruaidhri is the son of Aislinn Campion-Ryan, who is originally from Cartrontroy, and Robbie Ryan, and on his visit to the Marist College on Monday he was accompanied by his proud mum, who has three other sons, aged five, three and ten months.

“He was always into problem solving from a very early age and he loved things like jigsaw puzzles,” says Aislinn “he loved anything that had to be figured out and he was very good at Maths right throughout school so we are just delighted with this result and are so proud of him.”

Ruaidhri Campion recalls the day he collected his Leaving Cert results and realised he got 613 points “I remember my mother going out to the car and just bursting out crying” he says. 

“When I viewed my Maths script I could see where I got 99% but I felt I shouldn't have been dropped one mark so I appealed it, and the result was upgraded to 100%, which is what both myself and Mr Kelly felt it should have been in the first place,” says Ruaidhri.

Right throughout his final year in the Marist, Ruaidhi says he studied for “at least three and a half hours every night” and he credits the Athlone Study Hub with providing him with “the perfect environment” in which to study. 

“It is a really great facility and I know I wouldn't have been able to apply myself to my studies half as well as I did if the Study Hub wasn't there” he admits.

The young Cornafulla student, who is studying theoretical physics in Trinity, says his friends were “surprised, but not surprised” at his fantastic Maths results. 

“It was always a bit of a running joke when I was in primary school about how I was able to solve all the maths questions, so I suppose it just continued into secondary school,” he laughs.

Admitting that he has “zero plans” as to what career he wants to pursue after his four year Degree course in Trinity, Ruaidhri Campion paid tribute to his maths teacher for 5th and 6th year, John Parker, and admitted that his achievement was tinged with sadness as his maths teacher up to Junior Cert was the late Maureen Dooley, whose tragic death in March of last year after a traffic accident left a huge void in the Marist school community.

“Maureen was a fantastic teacher and a fantastic person in every way and she is still very deeply missed in the school,” says Deputy Principal, Paul Kelly, who added that she would have been “extremely proud” of Ruaidhri and his achievement and of all the Leaving Cert maths students she taught.

Marist College is no stranger to students who ace their final exam having already had a student, Liam Leahy, who achieved a perfect 100% score in honours English some years ago.

“We are extremely proud of all our students, but only a very tiny fraction of those who sit their Leaving Cert can achieve 100% in any honours subject, so to have two students who hold that distinction in the school is something quite remarkable,” says Paul Kelly.