Jade awarded scholarship from UCD
By Taylor Gleeson
A former Tallaght Community School student has been awarded a scholarship from UCD.
Jade Leonard from Tallaght, received the scholarship from UCD’s Cothrom na Féinne fund.
Jade Leonard
As a secondary school student, Jade participated in UCD’s Future You mentoring programme, which encourages second-level students to aspire to go on to third-level education.
Jade said: “I’m the first in my family to go on to university, and it means a huge amount to me and my family. Receiving the scholarship is a huge weight off for my parents and for me financially, it means I can afford the books and equipment required for my course and my transport, and focus more on my studies.
"The Access and Lifelong Learning Centre has been a huge support and I look forward to continuing my studies.”
Jade is one of the 450-plus non-traditional students sharing in €2 million worth in scholarships since 2012.
This figure was released at UCD’s Access Symposium on May 30.
The symposium celebrated UCD’s Access and Lifelong Learning Centre, which has made third-level education more accessible. Last year, €510,000 was given to 340 students.
Speaking at the symposium, Dr Anna Kelly, Director of UCD Access and Lifelong Learning Centre, said: “In UCD, we believe that students entering higher education should reflect the diversity of the wider population. All students should be made to feel they are welcome and that their experience, perspective and opinions are respected and valued.
“At the moment, over 29 per cent of our undergraduate student population is now drawn from communities experiencing low progression to higher education – we plan to increase this to 33 per cent by 2020.
“However, access isn’t just about getting students in the door to the University, it’s about ensuring they have the same opportunities to succeed when they get here.”
