Page 37 - Gonzaga at 60
P. 37
EXTRACTS FROM CLASS OF 2010 VALEDICTORY SPEECH
What does it mean to say that we have had a Jesuit educaion?
We have enjoyed a freedom of thought and expression here which we frequently take for granted. The
two Jesuits who have taught us, Fr Joe Brennan and Fr Kennedy O’Brien, have not expected us to have a strong
faith, but have challenged us and driven us to ind our own understanding of the importance of a spiritual
and religious dimension to our lives. Not once with these two men, or indeed with the lay RE teachers, have I
felt forced to conform to a paricular value system, belief or ideology. We have been let to challenge our own
beliefs and discover our own faith, and we are stronger and more assured in it as a result.
We have always been expected to learn by ourselves and push above and beyond what is demanded by
a syllabus.
I thank Mr Whirdy for being an inspiraion to us all in his humility, I thank Ms. Moore for her kindness
and I thank Ms. Nevin for being a superb Year Head, keeping us irmly in line and yet never afraid to praise.
I thank the teachers who have inspired, and moivated us even when we may not have made it very easy, most
especially those teachers who have been Form Tutors to the class of 2010, Ms. O’Brien, Kennedy, Mr O’Briain,
Ms. Morris, and Dr. Welch. Your service to the year cannot be overesimated. And of course I thank everyone
else who contributes to make this school a true second home to all of us; Marina and Pauline, Barry and the
staf in the canteen, Bernadete and the cleaning staf, and most of all Ben, who despite having an incredibly
diicult year has coninued to inspire and lead with his happiness, kindness and humility.
We are lucky in Gonzaga. We here tonight are more inancially capable than the vast majority of
the ciizens of this country, and we live in one of the safest socieies in the world. We have been given a
phenomenally broad and world-airming educaion, and if we fail to acknowledge this privilege we are lying
to ourselves. Privilege, however, does not have to be a dirty word; and the challenge tonight is to take all
that you have got from your ime in Gonzaga, all your experiences, all this privilege and put it at the service
of others. By virtue of our educaion and upbringing we all have the ability and responsibility to make a real
diference to the world.
Killian Donovan
School Captain 2009-2010
Killian Donovan achieved the highest performance in Ireland in the Leaving Ceriicate for 2010, ataining 900 points. He
is the irst Gonzaga student to do so, and only the second to gain entry to Cambridge University at undergraduate level.
What does it mean to say that we have had a Jesuit educaion?
We have enjoyed a freedom of thought and expression here which we frequently take for granted. The
two Jesuits who have taught us, Fr Joe Brennan and Fr Kennedy O’Brien, have not expected us to have a strong
faith, but have challenged us and driven us to ind our own understanding of the importance of a spiritual
and religious dimension to our lives. Not once with these two men, or indeed with the lay RE teachers, have I
felt forced to conform to a paricular value system, belief or ideology. We have been let to challenge our own
beliefs and discover our own faith, and we are stronger and more assured in it as a result.
We have always been expected to learn by ourselves and push above and beyond what is demanded by
a syllabus.
I thank Mr Whirdy for being an inspiraion to us all in his humility, I thank Ms. Moore for her kindness
and I thank Ms. Nevin for being a superb Year Head, keeping us irmly in line and yet never afraid to praise.
I thank the teachers who have inspired, and moivated us even when we may not have made it very easy, most
especially those teachers who have been Form Tutors to the class of 2010, Ms. O’Brien, Kennedy, Mr O’Briain,
Ms. Morris, and Dr. Welch. Your service to the year cannot be overesimated. And of course I thank everyone
else who contributes to make this school a true second home to all of us; Marina and Pauline, Barry and the
staf in the canteen, Bernadete and the cleaning staf, and most of all Ben, who despite having an incredibly
diicult year has coninued to inspire and lead with his happiness, kindness and humility.
We are lucky in Gonzaga. We here tonight are more inancially capable than the vast majority of
the ciizens of this country, and we live in one of the safest socieies in the world. We have been given a
phenomenally broad and world-airming educaion, and if we fail to acknowledge this privilege we are lying
to ourselves. Privilege, however, does not have to be a dirty word; and the challenge tonight is to take all
that you have got from your ime in Gonzaga, all your experiences, all this privilege and put it at the service
of others. By virtue of our educaion and upbringing we all have the ability and responsibility to make a real
diference to the world.
Killian Donovan
School Captain 2009-2010
Killian Donovan achieved the highest performance in Ireland in the Leaving Ceriicate for 2010, ataining 900 points. He
is the irst Gonzaga student to do so, and only the second to gain entry to Cambridge University at undergraduate level.
