A CLASS APART:THE STATE'S highest achiever in the Leaving Cert awoke to a bright future yesterday, with a call from his school principal to break the news that he had clocked up an incredible nine A1s.
Rory Crotty (18), a student at Christian Brothers College on Sydney Hill, Cork city, said he was “extremely surprised” to manage top grades in all his subjects, but was even more shocked to find he was the only student in the country to achieve such outstanding results.
“My mam took the call first and she spoke to my principal and then came upstairs to wake me up. I was extremely surprised to get A1s in all nine subjects, but I could hardly believe I was the only one in the country, I thought there would be others,” he said.
Coming from strong rugby stock, Rory, from Douglas, is a nephew of former Munster full- back Dominic Crotty, but he describes himself as a “black sheep of the family” in relation to the sport. He attributed his outstanding achievement to a natural interest in all his subjects, making study much less of an effort.
“I actually enjoyed learning and that holds true for all of my subjects, so that was a big help for me. It never felt like a chore,” he said.
While he expected to do well, his results surpassed his wildest dreams and he attributes his success to a continuous effort to stay on top of his workload. Following homework, Rory would put in “at least one hour” of study and more at the weekends.
“I studied consistently right through the year, I knew I had to keep it up or the workload would build up. I did nothing in first, second and third year, but for the Leaving Cert I knew I had to put the work in,” he said.
With nine A1s under his belt, he has comfortably achieved his dream of securing a place to study medicine in University College Cork, which he is eagerly looking forward to. “I can’t wait to see what college is like, there will be plenty more to learn that’s for sure,” he said. A keen clarinet player, Rory took music as one of his additional subjects.
Latin was his second additional choice and he took an early morning class with a handful of other students interested in pursuing the subject to Leaving Cert level.
“It was only a small class of us taking Latin, so that was a special effort on the part of my teacher, coming in early every week for the class. I’ve been really lucky with my teachers at Christians, all the way through the years,” Rory said.
School principal Dr Larry Jordan said Rory was always a fine student, but as the top performer in the country, he had surpassed even his teachers’ expectations.
“Taking on nine subjects is a big ask, so to achieve A1s in everything is outstanding. We are very proud of his achievement. He was always very academic and scored high all through the years.
“His father, Owen Crotty, is a past pupil of the school and Dominic Crotty is his uncle, so his is very much a traditional Christians’ family,” Dr Jordan said.
Rory’s mum, Kerry, said he put his heart into his study and deserved everything he achieved.