Bethan Eustace from Lissycasey will be awaiting her Leaving Certificate results on Friday, alongside just over 50,000 other Irish students.
The 19-year-old chose to have her grade awarded to her through her results throughout the year, an option given to the class of 2021 earlier this year.
Bethan completed the Leaving Cert cycle with the subjects English, Irish, Maths, Geography, Technology, History and German, and cited Technology as the subject she was most confident in.
Bethan said, “I had been doing Technology since first year and enjoyed the subject. I don’t think many schools have it, but I have seven years of it done now.
“In first year, I had always hoped to do something with technology in college, but I’ve now decided I hope to go into social care in September.”
This will involve Bethan taking on a four-year course in Early Childhood Education and Care, hosted by the Limerick Institute of Technology; something she is currently nervous about, because the soon-to-be first years have very few details about exactly how much of their initial college experience will be in-person.
This is the main reason that Bethan has decided to stay at home for first year, travelling to and from Limerick; renting a house in the city did not seem a viable option for Bethan and her family, due to the uncertainty of the coming college semester.
Bethan went on to admit that she struggled with online classes during the last year of school, which were enforced during the wave of coronavirus cases in January and February, with distractions aplenty at home.
“Mocks were cancelled because of that, as well,” Bethan explained, “I felt like in some subjects, a lot of the teachers did try their best to help, one-on-one, during that time, but a lot of students were left to do what they needed to do.
“I don’t think that was right, I felt like they needed more attention.”

by Conor Clohessy