LAURA Kehoe couldn’t believe it when she ripped open that big, brown envelope on Wednesday morning and saw a line of seven straight A1s!

“I knew that I’d do okay, but I really didn’t think that I’d get As in every subject,” a delighted Laura told The Nationalist.

The 18-year-old student from Scoil Chonglais, Baltinglass revealed that she focused solely on studying to get the top class scores. “I enjoyed it because I knew that I’d get something that I wanted out of it,” she said.

Laura Kehoe from Scoil Chonglais in Baltinglass who achieved seven A1s
Photo: Michael O’Rourke

While studying intensely, she also found time to help others achieve their goals. Before the exams, she set up a web page that was full of tips and Irish phrases to assist other students in their leaving cert Irish orals and, when she had a spare second, gave her classmates grinds in maths, physics, French and Irish.

Laura is the eldest of four children and encourages her younger siblings Aoife, Ciara and Martin Jnr to do well in school. Her parents Anne Marie and Martin from Rathvilly are understandably very proud of her.

Laura’s secondary school education began in St Leo’s College, Carlow, leaving there to attend Scoil Chonglais for her leaving cert.

The subjects she studied included English, Irish, maths, physics, chemistry, French and history. And thanks to the support of Rory O’Toole, principal of Scoil Chonglais, Laura was also able to sit a University College London exam to study chemical physics, onto which she was accepted.

“We’re really grateful to Mr O’Toole for his help and to all the teachers in Scoil Chonglais for their help,” her mother said.

Getting top marks means that the world is for her choosing and so Laura has decided to study veterinary medicine in UCD instead.

“I love science and especially chemistry, so I’m really looking forward to doing veterinary. Yes, I’ve made sacrifices, but now it’s definitely worth it. I can’t wait to start in UCD,” Laura concluded.