Donegal secondary students presented with certified Irish Angus
St Catherine’s Vocational School in Killybegs were reperesented by Kayla Boyle, Amy Rawdon, Holly Meehan and Catherine Byrne
Four students from St Catherine’s Vocational School in Killybegs have been selected as finalists in the latest Certified Irish Angus Schools Competition.
Kayla Boyle, Amy Rawdon, Holly Meehan and Catherine Byrne were among the students presented with the Irish Angus-cross calves they will rear over the next 18 months as part of the competition.
The announcement was made this week at the National Ploughing Championships in Screggan, Tullamore, Co Offaly, at an event hosted by social media personality and presenter James Kavanagh.
St Catherine’s is one of five schools selected to take part in the latest instalment of the competition, which was first introduced for secondary school students in Ireland in 2014 and has engaged with more than 4,000 students over the past 12 years.
As part of the project, the Killybegs students will research the theme ‘Supporting Generational Renewal, Longevity and Sustainability in Farming Through Education’. They will examine how education and exposure to farming and the agri-food sector can encourage young people to consider careers in agriculture, support generational renewal and preserve farming traditions.
The group will engage with students, farmers and industry representatives before developing recommendations aimed at increasing awareness of career pathways in the sector. Their work will also look at promoting agriculture through school workshops, educational resources, community events and outreach activities.
The students will receive one-to-one mentorship from a senior professional working in a related area of the Irish agri-food sector. The Killybegs group has been paired with Ciara Murphy from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
The competition is run by Certified Irish Angus with processor partners ABP and Kepak and aims to give second-level students an insight into the care and attention involved in producing high-quality beef. Alongside rearing their calves, the finalists complete research projects covering farming, the food chain and sustainability.
At the end of the project, each finalist group will receive the financial benefit from the sale of their animals to the processors, while the winning students will also receive a €2,000 grant towards further education.
Applications are now open for the 2026/2027 Certified Irish Angus Schools Competition, with Transition Year students across Ireland invited to apply before the October 31, 2026 deadline.