Sayonara school: Japanese chat-upline leads to A1

A JAPANESE chat-up line proved a winner for a teenager who began teaching himself the language three years ago to talk to a girl in his class.

Ruadhan Treacy, 18, from Newtown School in Waterford, was among 10 students who secured eight A1s in the Leaving Certificate.

“There was a Japanese girl in my year in school and I think I was looking up something in Japanese to say to her,” said Ruadhan.

He went on holiday to Japan and China before deciding to take it as a Leaving Certificate option He plans to study business and Japanese in Manchester.

The girl, Yuki Omi, also achieved notable results, gaining six As, revealed school principal Keith Lemon. “Overall our results were very good.” he said. “The students have a strong work ethic and the staff are very committed. I am particularly delighted for Ruadhan. He is a very good student and a really lovely guy as well.”

Catriona Callan, 18, from Clonskeagh, said she was shocked when she found she got an A1 in every subject, especially in maths — which she needed to study medicine at Cambridge university.

But the violinist and pianist, of Alexandra College, Dublin, did not spend all her spare time studying. “I do a lot of music because you have to have something else to do instead of studying all the time. I had to have another outlet.”

April Duff, 18, of St Augustine’s College in Dungarvan, admitted to having her head in the books all year, but went cycling every morning before school to clear her head.

“I would not put myself as one of those really intelligent people,” said April, a member of the national youth parliament who plans to study law with politics at University College Dublin. “I’ve got a good brain and memory but I put a lot of hard work into it,” she said.

Bray teenager Domhnall McGlacken-Byrne, who attended Gonzaga College in Dublin, plans to study medicine at Trinity.

“I knew I had done okay but I wasn’t quite expecting that,” admitted the 19-year-old pianist.

Principals at the schools that hosted Ireland’s highest achievers couldn’t praise them enough.

Describing his students’ results as exceptional, Alan McGinty, the principal of Blackrock College in Dublin, said four boys in the college had achieved 600 points. Michael Lockhart, from Greystones, Co Wicklow, managed to score eight A1s at Blackrock.

Aoife O’Donnell, the principal of co-ed Templeogue College in Dublin, said she “can’t complain” about the eight A1s scored by Emmet Carr of Rathmines. “We are ecstatic,” Ms O’Donnell added. “Everyone is particularly thrilled for Emmet. He is modest and unassuming — a really nice young man.”

Tomás MacPaídin, principal of Coláiste Na Coiribe in Galway, where Ciarán Ó Dubhghail achieved eight A1s, was pleased, as was Mary Nihill, the principal of Calasanctius College in Oranmore, Co Galway, where Ruth Cormican gained eight A1s.