Advice to Students on their next chapter

Following on from the end of the Leaving cert exams, Anna Powell spoke to local business owners about their Leaving Certificate experience and their advice for students as they face into the next chapter of their lives:

‘Don’t be afraid of hard work and you will be fine’

- Anna O'Connor

“Don’t be afraid to work hard and you will be fine,” expressed local business owner, musician, podcaster and social media personality, Anna O’Connor.

“If you show somebody that you want to work hard, you usually get on very well in life,” she expressed, highlighting how she believes hard work is the key to success for anyone.

“I didn’t do the Leaving Cert. This is the exception now, not the rule. I don’t want to be encouraging anyone to leave school early, but I was never academic,” she continued.

“School was never for me. I didn’t suit me. I was more musical, more arty, more creative,” she expressed.

At the age of 17, Anna left school to partake in a hairdressing course:

“I was only allowed leave if I went straight into a course, and I did go straight into the hairdressing,” she reflected, chuckling at the many roles she took up along the way such as working as a dental assistant.”

Now, Anna O’Connor, who has a substantial presence on social media, owns two hair salons, one in Nenagh and one in Templemore, and hosts a podcast called ‘The_Gratitude_Attitide’, Anna also regularly performs as a singer songwriter.

“I took the right path for me,” she shared to the Nenagh Guardian,

“The Leaving Cert wasn’t for me. It’s not for everybody, but it’s probably for most people,” mused Anna.

'Whatever you are going doing, go 100% at it’

- Conor O'Brien

“Whatever you are going doing, go 100% at it,” expressed Conor O’Brien (25) of Bourke O’Brien Woodcraft when asked about the Leaving Cert and the impact it had on his career.

“As happy as I am here and what we are building here. When you know you have put 100% into something, that’s when you know you are going to reap the rewards,” he continued.

“I know studying is pretty painful now, but I’d say just get it done now, get the leaving cert done and at least you can walk away knowing you gave everything you had,” advised Conor O’Brien to Leaving Cert students in the week leading up to student’s sitting their final leaving cert exams.

“I didn’t really pay too much heed to it, but anyway we got on the finest,” expressed Conor O’Brien about the Leaving Cert experience.

“We actually sat beside each other in construction in Leaving cert would you believe,” reflected Conor Bourke, as the duo now run their own carpentry business.

Conor One and Conor Two, as they both refer to themselves as, both went on to do apprenticeships after the Leaving Cert, before they decided to go into business together.

“I was actually hoping to do construction teaching in UL. I got the points for that, but I just kind of thought to myself that I would do the apprenticeship myself for four years and I could go back as a mature student if I wanted and do teaching then,” explained Conor Bourke about his decision to take on an apprenticeship.

“If you are thinking of an apprenticeship, it’s probably good to try it out for a couple of weeks in the summer, or even if you could get a Saturday working with a lad.

“You would figure out fairly quickly whether you like it or not” chuckled Conor Bourke, while giving advice to any young person who may be considering doing an apprenticeship going forward.

'I loved the challenge of the Leaving Cert'

- Emma Hanrahan

“I loved school,” chuckled Emma Hanrahan bashfully.

“I loved a goal. I loved planning and I think I loved the challenge of the leaving cert,” reflected Emma.

“I think it’s so important as a life lesson, not just academically but it taught me so much…in terms of being disciplined, your time management,” continued Emma.

“I got better than I wanted [in my Leaving Cert]. But the funny thing is, I didn’t go down the route I thought I wanted. It was nursing I was going to go for, got it, and I ended up doing Beauty Therapy in Waterford,” expressed Emma.

“I just changed last minute. It was the best thing that I ever did. I learnt so much in sales,” expressed Emma, pointing out how she is now in a full time Business Development role for the past 12 years, while also running her own business, Noa Jewellery.

“Nobody spoke about having your own business,” reflected Emma on her time in secondary school.

“I think now there is definitely a lot more support and a lot more awareness and openness about stuff like that,” she commented as how societies perspective towards entrepreneurship has changed.

“There are so many different avenues you can go down. I was very academic and I got very good points, but I didn’t go down that route,” reflected Emma on the role her Leaving Cert results played in her life.

“Don’t get bogged down with the stress of it all. What’s for you won’t pass you,” advised Emma to any leaving cert students considering what path they would like to take next.

'I left my options very limited' - Kealan Floyd

“I didn’t want to re-sit my Leaving Cert, so I just took the first course I could get.

“I ended up doing arts in Mary I and I dropped out after a year and a half,” reflected Kealan Floyd, co-owner of the Workshop Gym.

After dropping out of an arts degree in Mary Immaculate College, and working for a short period, Kealan began a business degree in Griffith College.

“I left my options very limited,” reflected Kealan as to how he filled out his CAO form.

“I didn’t want to go back and sit my Leaving Cert, so I just took the first course I could get,” reflected Kealan as to how he reacted to not getting enough points for his preferred course.

“It’s not easy to drop out of anything,” he expressed.

“If I didn’t do that, would the Workshop even be a thing? I’m not so sure,” questioned Kealan, hinting at how everything potentially worked out for the best.

“The Workshop really stemmed from the course that I ended up doing, which was business in Griffith College.

“We had to create a business plan as part of that, and I came up with an idea for the gym for it.

“Although it was a tough decision, I feel like it was the right decision for me to drop out and pursue what I really wanted to do,” he concluded.

'You figure it out as you go along'

- Conor Floyd

“I did chemical engineering - I then changed career dramatically enough.

“I enjoyed what I was doing,” reflected Birdhill’s Conor Floyd, co-owner of the Workshop gyms on his time working in chemical engineering before he began working alongside his cousin in their gyms.

Conor completed a degree in Chemical Engineering in the University of Limerick and then began working full time for a few years.

“I always had it in my head that I wanted to run a gym,” shared Conor, going on to explain how he started to develop the idea with his cousin. “We just kind of made the decision to go for it.

“I think you figure it out as you go along, and you probably learn by doing, and I think you do find what you want in the end. You might find your dream course straight away, or you mightn’t.

“Eventually you will find out what you want to do and don’t be afraid to try out new things,” encouraged Conor to any former Leaving Cert students who are trying to figure out their next steps.”