Birr student has immersed himself in school life

There were eight Offaly winners at the Laois Offaly Garda Divisional Youth Awards which took place on Thursday, March 23.

There were four special achievement award winners from Offaly;

The Special Achievement winners were Hamid Hossini, St Brendan’s Community School, Birr, Moira Scott, Gallen Community School, Ferbane, Holly and Tiernan Donnolly, Youthwork Ireland Midlands and Ian Flood from Clonbullogue

Hamid Hosseini

Hamid Hosseini was nominated by his teacher Tara Cusack of St Brendan’s Community School, Birr. At the age of sixteen, Hamid made his way through Turkey, Greece, Croatia and eventually to Ireland where he was granted refugee status. He came to live in Birr, in February 2022. Hamid is one of the top students in St Brendan’s Community School, Birr. He has immersed himself in school life taking the lead when it came to organising their Intercultural Day and fundraising for such charities as the Donal Walsh Foundation.

Ian Flood's story can be seen here

The other special achievement winners will be profiled on Offaly Independent shortly.

There were two individual award winners from Offaly on the night, Ailís Malone from Banagher College and Eric Grimes from Tullamore College.

You can read their stories here and here

The Group Award winners were Video Vibers from the Acorn Project, Edenderry and Shinrone Youth Initiative.

The profiles are published here and here

The 2023 Laois Offaly Garda Divisional Youth Awards took place on Thursday, March 23 at The Killeshin Hotel, Portlaoise.

A Garda Youth Award recognises the outstanding achievement of young people between the ages of 13 and 21 years.