In the Dark

I’ve just finished my presentation about Theoretical Physics at today’s Open Day in Maynooth and now have a short break before the online Question-and-Answer session so I thought I’d use the time to do a quick post.

Yesterday our students got their marks and as a consequence I had quite a few emails from students about their results. Happily the vast majority were absolutely lovely. Here are two excerpts of emails from graduating students (I’ve removed bits to ensure anonymity):

Thanks a million for all your support throughout the 3 years. I enjoyed every minute of this course, largely due to yourself and the other lecturers..

Thank you and everyone in the TP department for everything, I am indebted to you all and am incredibly gratefully for all your support, help and advice.

And another:

I want to express my gratitude to yourself and the rest of the department. I had a great experience in Maynooth and having personable and helpful professors helped a lot.

Such nice comments mean a very great deal, especially since these students – and others too numerous to mention – have been taught remotely for the last three semesters. They’re not just about me, of course; they refer to all the staff in the Department. I’m sure the gratitude expressed goes both ways too. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our students for putting up with everything that’s been thrown at them over the last year and a half and for being so determined and cooperative.

I really do hope it will be possible to offer congratulations in person to our graduating class at a formal Conferring Ceremony due to take place in September, but that I suppose is dependent on the progress of the Covid-19 pandemic, vaccination, and so on. It’s out of my hands.

I’ve said before on this blog that I always feel a curious sense of loss at the end of an academic year. After three or four years in the Department you’re only just starting to get to know students and then suddenly they’re finished. This year in particular it would be very sad if they just disappeared without a proper goodbye. As one of my correspondents said:

I am really looking forward to attending the conferring ceremony. As you said, it’s been far too long since we’ve talked to anyone in the department in person.

Of course this little tinge of sadness is more than made up by the success of these students which is hard won and thoroughly well deserved. I’m very pleased for them all. They now have the opportunity to follow a career of their choice. It must be very exciting for them, as a degree in Theoretical Physics opens a great many doors!

This entry was posted on June 26, 2021 at 1:01 pm and is filed under Biographical, Education, Maynooth. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.