Michael Finn, Principal of Gorey Community School, congratulates super student, Mark Berney.
Thousands of column inches are written every year about the stress and tribulations facing anxious students on the delivery day of the Leaving Certificate results, but Gorey super student, Mark Berney, (18), has bucked the trend dramatically with a divergent approach that has worked for him.
Mark, a student at Gorey Community School, was parachuted into the national educational spotlight last Wednesday morning when he emerged as the only student out of 57,000 nationally to achieve nine A1s and amassed an unbeatable 625 points.
“He can get anything he wants,” remarked biology teacher, Grainne Mulcahy, who was amongst the first to congratulate the modest student who had just been handed a passport to the career of his choice.
From Kilmurray, a few miles from the town on the Tara Hill side of Gorey, Mark was quick to suggest that his recipe for success to “choose the subjects that you like; I studied what I felt I wanted to study”.
Mark was surprised at his amazing achievement. “I wasn’t really expecting it, but I did put a lot of work in.”
Planning to study science at Trinity College Dublin, he clocked up his A1s in English, Irish, Maths, French, Italian, Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Music.
In a sensational development, Mark managed to cover the entire higher-level biology syllabus on his own just weeks before he sat the exam.
Although he had never done biology before he decided to give it a try after his class finished the chemistry and physics courses in February.
He said: “I’m just really interested in science.”
Amazingly, he covered the entire syllabus on his own in about 12 weeks and got an A1!
Most Leaving Cert students sit seven exams, but magic Mark sat nine, studying Italian and biology as extra-curricular subjects.
He didn’t expect to do so well in his exams. He thought he would get around 550 points as had done in the mocks.
Mark’s proud parents are Joe Berney and Nicky Deacon, well-known in the equestrian world as proprietors of Berney Saddlery, on Enniscorthy’s Templeshannon Quay.
His younger brother Conor, (15), is also a student at Gorey Community School.
While it was an outstanding personal triumph, having the top student in the country was also a major boost for the educational standards at Gorey Community School.
Principal Michael Finn and Deputy Principal, Michael Duke, were both extremely excited by Mark’s singular achievement and were the first to congratulate him.
“Unbelievable. Superb,” was the immediate comment of Mr Duke, who appeared to be in a state of excitable shock.
Mark remained calm and composed through all of the mayhem and was photographed and filmed, interviewed and congratulated, on national television and in the national media.
Full story this week in THE GOREY ECHO.
