HEITOR GONZAGA considered himself very lucky when he got a job washing dishes in Ballyvaughan, Co Clare, after his Leaving Cert exams last summer.
However, the 19-year-old member of south Galway’s Brazilian community has been able to quit the kitchen work, as he has just been awarded a scholarship to study engineering at NUI Galway (NUIG).
Heitor, who took the Leaving Cert at Gort Community School, spent much of his childhood helping his father to sell vegetables back in Brazil. He arrived in Gort with his mother, Traci Silva, three years ago with virtually no English. Silva hoped to find work in the town, which had attracted many compatriots from Goias state over the past decade to work in a local meat factory.
Heitor’s chemistry teacher, Chris Moran, recognised the student’s ability. He and colleagues, including maths teacher Geraldine Hanley and English language support teacher Margaret Geraghty, encouraged him to take higher-level options where he could.
He studied the higher-level maths course in just one year, and Ms Geraghty was able to translate chemistry lessons into his native Portuguese for him.
The work paid off with good results, but the student did not have the financial resources for college. However, he applied for a scholarship offered by NUIG for international applicants with support from the Galway University Foundation.
He recalls he was in tears when he heard he had secured a place in engineering – as one of the first tranche of students to move into the university’s €40 million “green” engineering building. His father, Adilsom Gonzaga, was also close to tears when the boy rang him to tell him the news.
“Gort Community School was the first rung on the ladder to cracking a poverty trap, and NUIG is the next,” Ms Geraghty said.
She paid tribute to the school’s principal, Denis Corry, and deputy principal, Amy Talbot, who have encouraged children from the Brazilian community to aim for third-level education. Two former Brazilian pupils, Adrielle Bras and Adrielle Santos, graduated in hotel management this year.
“Tom Joyce of Galway University Foundation and Prof Jim Ward of NUIG have also recognised the need for multicultural Ireland to embrace these young people, who have such potential,” Ms Geraghty added.
“Just as a young Michael D Higgins was once helped to get to university, there is no saying how far this exciting gift of access to knowledge will take pupils like Heitor,” she said.
