Congratulations to Niohmi Murray, (back centre) daughter of our Chairman Brendan who was one of the three recipients of the inaugural Michaela Foundation Awards valued at £1,000 each in conjunction with ‘The Irish News’ to help allay the costs of Higher Education. The bursaries were presented on Friday 30th March 2012 at Queens University.
The Michaela Foundation was established by John McAreavey and the Harte Family following the murder of Michaela on Honeymoon in January 2011. They wished to commemorate and celebrate Michaela’s life -she was a woman of great faith, who believed this faith was the reason she was so happy in her life. She had a love of the Gaelic language and above else loved to have fun and enjoy life. Michaela was also a keen pioneer and exhibited her love of life without the need for alcohol or additives.
The awards were made to the three students in three disciplines, Irish, Religious Education and any other General discipline.
The purpose of the Michaela Foundation Award is two fold. It provides three students with some much needed financial support for college life as well as providing the wider public a monthly blog in the format, ” View from the Student” in terms of the following areas:
– The practical and emotional challenge of leaving home for university
– The excitement of starting a new chapter in their lives
– The challenge of balancing academic work with social life
Niohmi, a student teacher at Stranmillis College, was awarded the General Studies Category and the blogs of the three recipients will appear monthly in The Irish News as well as online.
Photo (Irish News, Saturday 31st March 2012) show the three recipients – Eilish Cassidy (Slaughtneil, Co Derry) received the Irish Award; Niohmi Murray (Clonduff, Co Down) and Rosemary Jeffries (Derry) Religious Studies with (front) Mickey Harte and John McAreavey.
Great achievement Niohmi – well done!