On Friday January 13th, Leaving Cert students attended an inspirational talk given by former CCS pupil Michael Grogan. Michael sat his Leaving Cert in 2000 and in the twelve years since leaving Castlerea Community School he has exceeded expectations and become very successful. Now residing in Philadelphia, Michael works as a management coach for the pharmaceutical company Merck. He returned to our school to speak to Leaving Certs about his career path and the importance of ‘giving back’, basing much of his presentation on the experiences he had working with staff in a disability hospital in Tanzania. Michael is currently making an ambitious effort to help Merck distribute the Rotavirus vaccine to developing countries where Rotavirus is causing a massive loss of life.
In the second half of his presentation Michael offered advice to the students who will be sitting their Leaving Certificate in June. He emphasised the importance of positive thinking, something we should all strive for in these recessionary times, and revealed a simple, yet effective, approach to success. The ‘Three F’ approach incorporates faith, focus, and follow through and all the students who attended Michael’s presentation intend to use the ‘Three F’s’ in their studies this year and in the future. The students found Michael’s optimistic message inspiring and everyone at CCS would like to thank Michael Grogan for ‘giving back’ to the school.