A HIGH achieving Limerick student has been awarded a bursary from the Irish Youth Foundation that will allow her pursue her studies at the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS).
Fatima Bibi, who completed her Leaving Cert exams at Coláiste Nano Nagle this year, will have the support of a €5,000 scholarship during her first two years at the TUS campus in Moylish where she will study Level 8 Drugs and Medicinal Product Analysis.
The funds will go towards the cost of attending university, outside of annual fees, which have been known to negatively impact students’ abilities to concentrate on their studies.
Fatima was winner of the Senior Life Sciences category at last year’s SciFest4stem competition at the then Limerick Institute of Technology for her project on creating alternatives to single use plastics.
She has been an ambassador for Teen Turn, a charity that provides teenage girls with the opportunity to gain hands-on STEM experience and the support to acquire qualifications and jobs. Teen-Turn was instrumental in Fatima receiving the bursary.
The Irish Youth Foundation (IYF) created the bursary to help young people overcome practical barriers that are holding them back from accessing further education, meaningful training opportunities, or new employment.
IYF Communications Manager Christy Vickers said that no young person should be held back from success by circumstances outside their control and the bursary was all about ensuring that this doesn’t happen.
“For Fatima the barriers to her success are the costs associated with fully participating in her third level education. She is clearly a bright and motivated young woman and the IYF Bursary will mean she can focus fully on her studies and reach her full potential.”
“We believe that backing bright young people like Fatima can be transformative not only for the young person themselves but also for their families and communities. We want to continue to scale up our efforts in 2013 by awarding more bursaries through like-minded organisations like Teen-Turn”.
Coláiste Nano Nagle Principal Sinéad Moloney said that Teen-Turn had offered Fatima, and continue to offer other students at Coláiste Nano Nagle, valuable learning opportunities in STEM.
“In recent years Fatima has become an ambassador for students to inspire other girls to gain STEM experience and consider STEM careers. We are so grateful to Teen-Turn for broadening our students’ learning experiences and we look forward to continuing our relationship with them.”
