St. Aloysius College ( ga, Coláiste Naomh Aloysius) was a

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

Athlone Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midlands Region with a population of ...

Westmeath "Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = , subdivis ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It was primarily a school for boys, though its

Leaving Certificate A secondary school leaving qualification is a document signifying that the holder has fulfilled any secondary education requirements of their locality, often including the passage of a final qualification examination. For each leaving certifica ...

Repeat Programme was open to all students.

History

The school was founded in 1960 by Monsignor John McCarthy and Dr. Vincent Hanly,

Bishop of Elphin The Bishop of Elphin (; ) is an episcopal title which takes its name after the village of Elphin, County Roscommon, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with other b ...

. The institution is named after

Aloysius Gonzaga Aloysius de Gonzaga ( it, Luigi Gonzaga; 9 March 156821 June 1591) was an Italian aristocrat who became a member of the Society of Jesus. While still a student at the Roman College, he died as a result of caring for the victims of a serious epid ...

, the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

aristocrat The aristocracy is historically associated with "hereditary" or "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the upper class of people (aristocrats) with hereditary rank and titles. In some, such as ancient Greece, ancient Ro ...

born in 1568, who joined the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

, and was

canonized Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christianity, Christian communion declaring a person worthy of Cult (religious practice), public veneration and enterin ...

Pope Benedict XIII Pope Benedict XIII ( la, Benedictus XIII; it, Benedetto XIII; 2 February 1649 – 21 February 1730), born Pietro Francesco Orsini and later called Vincenzo Maria Orsini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 May ...

in 1726. The first classes took place in a small room attached to the

Dean Crowe Theatre The Dean Crowe Theatre & Arts Centre is a theatre and arts space in Athlone, Westmeath, Ireland. History Built in 1800 the building served as the parish church for 137 years. The altar was placed against the wall in the middle of the building, ...

. The school later moved to a much larger, dedicated location at Deer Park Road, its present-day location. The

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

house there, built in 1820, was the sole venue for classes in the early years after the move, but as the number of pupils grew, newer classrooms, study areas and recreation facilities were built. The late Dr. Joseph Ducke, author, and founder of the 'Passionfruit Theatre', taught English at the school. In 2010, the college partnered with Élan Corporation in a business-to-education learning initiative. From the start of the 2017/2018

academic year An academic year or school year is a period of time which schools, colleges and universities use to measure a quantity of study. School holiday School holidays (also referred to as vacations, breaks, and recess) are the periods during which sch ...

, the school merged with St. Joseph's College, Summerhill, with the new name of Colaiste Chiarán, named after the local saint

Ciarán of Clonmacnoise Saint Ciarán of Clonmacnoise (c. 516 – c. 549), supposedly born Ciarán mac an tSaeir ("son of the carpenter"), was one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland and the first abbot of Clonmacnoise. He is sometimes called Ciarán the Young ...

. The new school is located at the existing Summerhill site, on the outskirts of Athlone, with a new name, and new management structures.

Awards and academic achievements

In 2014, the school won third place in the technology category at the Young Scientist Exhibition, with students Lochlann O’Regan, Paul Rushe and Eryk Zaplata answer to the question 'Can non-proprietary/

open-source software Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Op ...

be used to emulate large scale proprietary

text to speech Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware products. A text-to-speech (TTS) system converts normal languag ...

systems?'. Also in 2014 students Dylan Fuery, Chris Halota and Oisin Prendergast won a Display award at the Young Scientist Exhibition with their project "Can an architectural program be combined to create a interactive map?". The project later won first place in its category at Sci Fest. Also in 2014, the school won the ''SEAI Sustainable Energy Award'' at the SciFest event at

Athlone Institute of Technology The Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT; ga, Institiúid Teicneolaíochta Bhaile Átha Luain) was an institute of technology, located in Athlone, Ireland. Established in 1970, the institute's campus was located on University Road. A conso ...

, with pupil Aaron Broughall's project 'Let your devices soak up the rain', under the mentor-ship of teacher Bill Kearney, while student Loughlan O'Regan was recognised with a Junior

Ericsson (lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informat ...

Technology Award for his project 'Teaching the basics of

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...

using

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...

tools'.

Notable alumni

* Michael Duignan, Catholic bishop *

Denis Naughten Denis Naughten (born 23 June 1973) is an Irish Independent politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Roscommon–Galway constituency since 2016, and previously from 2007 to 2016 for the Roscommon–South Leitrim constituency and fro ...

, TD and minister *Owen Killian, CEO of Aryzta

References

External links

* 1960 establishments in Ireland 2017 disestablishments in Ireland Boys' schools in the Republic of Ireland Buildings and structures in Athlone Educational institutions established in 1960 Educational institutions disestablished in 2017 Education in Athlone Secondary schools in County Westmeath {{Ireland-school-stub