Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

Sitting your Leaving Cert, moving away from home, going on to further education, being named student of the year. These are all major milestones, but especially so when you have Down syndrome. Not that that stopped one inspirational student, writes Vicki McKenna

NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD student Róisín De Búrca has had a busy year. One of the few people in Ireland with Down syndrome to have completed a full Leaving Certificate last summer, she then became part of an even smaller group by proceeding on to further education. On top of that, De Búrca recently won Bank of Scotland’s student of the year award. “I felt proud of myself, something I can accomplish in life, something that belongs to me alone instead of the family,” she says.