St. Finian's Community College

Alumni: St. Finian's Community College

Alumni: St. Finian's Community College
27-February-21
Alumni: St. Finian's Community College

Name: Sarah Howard

Class of 2007- 2012

School Highlights: Some of Sarah's favourite moments were sporting ones as she played on the St. Finian's football team and participated in cross country running. She also regards the time she spent with her friends, who have become lifelong friends, as something that she will always remember and cherish.

Career Pathway: When Sarah was in school she wanted to be a teacher so she did Geography and Irish in St Patrick's Teaching College with the intention of doing Primary School teaching.

She finished her undergraduate degree in 2015 and started her Masters in Primary Education in September 2016 after taking a year out. She qualified in the summer of 2018 and has been teaching in Holywell ETNS ever since! September will be the start of her 4th year in the school and Sarah has always taught junior/senior infants which she speaks very passionately about.

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Name: Brigid (Gallagher) Manton

Class of 1969- 1974

School Highlights:

At that time the school was situated where Fingal Community College is now on the Seatown Road. At that time boys and girls were in separate classes up to Intermediate Certificate which was the equivalent of the Junior Certificate. The Leaving Certificate had only been introduced a couple of years before and not too many people stayed to take this exam. So in the Leaving Certificate class there were 10 boys and 8 girls and they were in mixed classes for most subjects for the first time. There were no school uniforms so having fashionable clothes for attending school was really important and most of the money from the summer jobs went on that. Girls were not allowed to wear trousers, so when the principal/deputy let them in to the school each morning the length of your skirt was very important, as the mini skirt was fashionable at the time. Some people were sent home to put on something longer!

Attending Swords Vocational School was the best thing that ever happened to Brigid. With the new Leaving Cert course a whole host of young, newly qualified teachers arrived and looking back the teachers were not that much older than the students but they were full of enthusiasm and she experienced a lot of her firsts in life there. Her first trip abroad Paris, her first play, her first restaurant, her first Christmas cake( which she made herself). She learned how to cook, sew, to speak French and Gaeilge, got a scholarship to the Gaeltacht on 3 occasions, and spent some time in the Kerry Gaeltacht. That represented Brigid's first trip away from home in Ireland as being a Dub she didn’t have any relatives down the country.

One of her favourite pastimes was Debating. Valerie English and Tommy Monaghan trained them in debating issues relevant to the time. Macra Na Feirme rolled out a debating competition for all the post primary schools in the Fingal area and they beat everyone off the park to bring home the cup for Swords VEC. It was a glorious time as her fellow pupils and teachers turned out to cheer them on. Nobody ever believed that the underdog, 'the Tech” for short, could ever beat the other secondary schools in the area. She attributes the skills that she acquired in that debating competition to subsequently going into politics and is now a Councillor in Fingal County Council.

Career Pathway:
Brigid was the first student from a Vocational School in Ireland to get a place in St. Patrick's Teacher Training College, Drumcondra. She finished her career as Principal of St. Cronans J.N.S, having taught there for 37 years. She is eternally grateful to the educators in what is now St. Finian’s Community College, Swords and is proud to be the Chairperson of the Board of Management and even prouder to be working with another group of young enthusiastic teachers, some of whom were her past pupils.

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Name: Adeyemi Rahman


Class of 2008- 2013

School Highlights:

Some of Adeyemi's favourite moments were heading off to school football and basketball matches, his work experience at the National Institute of Cellular Biotechnology for his career guidance class and receiving 6 subject awards as well as the highest Leaving Certificate Points Award at the awards night.
Career Pathway:
After graduating from St. Finians Community College, Adeyemi was awarded the Department of Education Ernest Walton S.T.E.M scholarship. He went on to study Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology at University College Dublin. Throughout his studies he received four academic awards and he was also honoured to receive the Frank Hegarty Medal for academic excellence. Adeyemi is now in the final few months of his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry at Trinity College Dublin.
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Name: Lydia King


Class of 2009- 2014

School Highlights: Some of the highlights of her time at St. Finian's C.C. include representing the school as Head Girl, the 5th year trip to Barcelona and going to see live performances of Sive and Macbeth for her English class with Ms. Brick.

Career Pathway: After leaving St. Finian's C.C, Lydia completed a BSc in Biology and Statistics at Maynooth University and a MSc in Biomedical Genomics at NUI Galway. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Genomics Data Science at NUI Galway, looking at how the genomic makeup of breast tumours can influence patient survival.

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Name: Brendan Murphy

Class of 2005- 2010

School Highlights: Being part of the soccer team that won the Dublin and Leinster Schools Championships in 07/08, as well as the 5th year school trip to Disneyland, Paris.

Career Pathway: He has gone on to qualify as a commercial pilot, flown around Europe as a First Officer in the Boeing 737 with Ryanair, and he is currently a First Officer flying the Airbus A320/321 around Europe for Aer Lingus.

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Castlefarm, Swords, Co. Dublin, Ireland.
01 840 2623
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