Marist Week 2024
Marist Week 2024 started with a celebration of the Marist values and identity in all the Marist Schools around Europe and beyond. There are three Marist secondary schools in Ireland, our own Marist College Athlone, Moyle Park and Marian College in Dublin. The activities in Marist Week aimed to promote our school spirit and ethos and give the students a sense that as part of Marist College, we belong to a long tradition and a worldwide Marist network. The theme for this year was ‘River of Life’ and students celebrated their Marist home in numerous ways.
Our annual Champagnat Mass was celebrated in St. Mary’s Church and it was a wonderful occasion to open our school year. Many students were involved in readings, bringing up gifts and putting their musical talents on show. We welcomed Br. PJ and Leigh Ellis, Director of Marist Education to Athlone for this event.
A number of third year students travelled to the annual inter-Marist History quiz hosted by Moyle Park school. This was an enjoyable day out and an opportunity for our students to visit another Marist school. Congratulations to Fiachra Reddington, Darragh Luby Hartnett, Ruairi Connaughton and Alex Kolencheril who came tin third place out of sixteen teams in total.
Our ‘River of Life’ Poetry Competition saw an exceptional number of entries, with many talented photographers capturing moments of peace and tranquillity in their daily lives. Well done to everyone for taking part and to our overall winners Darragh Collins in the Senior category and Daithi Lawlor Murphy in the Junior Category. Martin Murray and Aódhan Fallon’s photographers were also highly commended.
We hosted a welcome breakfast for all our new students and teachers. It was an opportunity for them to gather and chat, while enjoying a cup of tea and some treats provided by our canteen ‘A Slice of Life’.
Our Marist Leaders visited each first year class and spoke to them about their recent visit to L’hermitage in France, home of Marist founder Marcellin Champagnat. 1st Year students also took part in a Marist tradition, whereby they write their intentions for their time in Marist College and place it in the ‘Marist Heart’.