Waterford students excel at national level

Students from De La Salle College Waterford are no strangers to national success and once again they have earned plaudits by taking part in the Gaisce Awards and also enjoying success at chess.

Gaisce Awards

The @GaisceAward programme is a long running challenge for young people from the President of Ireland. This year De La Salle College, Waterford had students complete their bronze, silver and gold level challenges. Eight students achieved a bronze medal and four students achieved a silver medal at the College Awards nigh this year.

We had one student (Noah Cowman, now a past pupil) who completed his gold medal challenges earlier in the academic year. Noah will receive his medal at a special ceremony in Aras an Uachtarain. 

The pictures are taken from the recently completed bronze and silver adventure journeys.

 Chess Club

Our chess club has had another very busy year. Students play chess on Tuesday lunchtimes and on Thursday after school. A number of successful challenge matches were played earlier in the year against St. Angela’s Ursuline school and the Abbey Community College. 

Usually our first competitive outing is in the Munster finals. As this was the first year to return to in-person competitions, the Munster finals didn’t take place and so, we had to select eight students for the national finals. Fortunately we had great success at the All-Ireland finals held in Templemore before Easter.

After six rounds, two of our players finished in a three-way tie for first place. Arthur Moull was crowned national champion after the playoff. Arthur has been a very dedicated chess player for many years and richly deserves this national title.

Gianmarco Carparelli, who is studying in Ireland this year, finished in third place in the individual standings. Our teams finished in second and sixth place overall. A special mention to our players who made their competitive debuts at the national finals. Well done to all on a great day’s work.