Gallery: ATU Donegal student ambassadors receive awards

Click > Next to go through the images

Twenty-two students at ATU Donegal were presented with digital badges in recognition for their voluntary hours contributed to the university throughout the academic year.

In 2017, ATU Donegal was the first university in Ireland to award five students with such badges and students have been recognised every year since for their voluntary contributions.

The badges were received from the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning at ATU Donegal.

The 22 students, who are members of the ‘Student Ambassador’ programme and ‘International Student Ambassador’ programme 2022/23, were given their awards at a ceremony on May 26.

Three students were awarded with a gold badge. Jia Min Tan who contributed 75 hours and international student ambassadors, Anoop Akampadath and Ana-Narcisa Pintilie incredibly completed over 100 hours representing ATU over the past academic year.

Silver awards were presented to Isabel Cunningham, Jerry Drumm, Cormac Harte and Niamh Moohan who completed 50 hours of volunteer hours.

International student ambassadors Clarence Yu Zhan Chong, Aniket Shrikant Ingole and Vaibhav Rai also received a silver badge for their contribution of more than 75 hours of voluntary hours.

Students that contributed 25 hours or more volunteering were Eimear McDermott, Emily McBride, Fionn Lí Mc Monagle, Livia Quicoli, Manna Begum, Michaela Ivan, Saoirse Neary, Kyle Harvey, Emma Deasy and Clara Barrins, each of whom received a bronze award.

International student ambassadors Mallikharjuna Rao Sakhamuri and Suriabaanu Rokanatnam received a bronze award for contributing 50 hours.

Dr Orla Flynn, ATU President, said: “The ambassadors are the front of house for our university, whenever anything happens the first thing you see is our student ambassadors, with a warm welcome and a smile.”

Paul Hannigan, Head of College at ATU Donegal, said: “I see the work that these students do on an ongoing basis and it’s fantastic, they go above and beyond, they all contribute in different ways, but you can see it is a team effort and they all work very well together. It is fantastic to see the mix of the international students and local students receiving awards.”

Dr Flynn and Mr Hannigan presented the student ambassadors with their digital badges.

Jill Murphy, International Manager at ATU Donegal, said: “We started the international student badge three years ago and every year it goes from strength to strength. When students come from far away, they want to be a part of the bigger student body and these types of programmes give the students the vehicle to connect.”

ATU Alumni and previous recipients of the digital awards, Esther Osiuhwu, Oluwatosin Edunjobi and Fatimah Alao made a return to the campus as guest speakers.

Each of the graduates reflected on how beneficial participating in the programme was to them, both during university life and in their chosen career paths.

The ambassador programme provides students with the opportunity to meet friends outside of their chosen programmes, to develop communication and organisational skills amongst many others and most of all to have fun. The digital badges are added to the students LinkedIn profiles to enhance their work experience for CV’s, one of the many advantages of being an ATU student ambassador.