Ukrainian student in Strokestown wins national art competition

The national final of the 2022 Credit Union Art Competition took place on Sunday, February 12th, in Croke Park. Roscommon Credit Union (RCU) were represented on the day by Aodhán Green from Roxboro National School in the ‘7 and under’ age category and Varvara Babachenko from St Mary’s National School, Strokestown represented RCU in the special category.

At the award-giving ceremony, Marty Whelan was on hand to present the winners with their prizes. Varvara Babachenko was awarded overall winner, with Aodhán Greene placing second in their respective categories. Both Varvara and Aodhán were accompanied on this memorable day by their parents and siblings. Varvara’s teacher Eimear McGinley was also present, along with Bernie Moran (RCU CEO) and John Devaney (Chair of RCU), to lend support and deserved congratulations.

Anna Feely (Principal of St Mary’s Primary School, Strokestown) offered her congratulations on the day, expressing how the entire school were extremely proud of Varvara and all she has accomplished since she joined the school from wartorn Ukraine in September 2022.

Anna went on to say Varvara has a beautiful personality as she is always a happy and cheerful pupil; her artwork with a stunning rainbow and butterflies is an excellent representation of herself.

Gillian McBride (Principal of Roxboro National School) echoed similar sentiments, congratulating Aodhán. Gillian expressed how very proud everyone at the school is of Aodhán and his notable artistic talent at his young age. Gillian continued: “His creativity is inspiring, we can’t wait to see where his talent takes him”.

The theme of the 2022 art competition was ‘It’s a wonderful world’. The competition invited participants to create artworks that depict the theme and explore through their own unique lens the beauty and wonder of the world and portray them on paper or canvass.

Roscommon CU has a strong tradition when it comes to representation at the national finals of the credit union art competition, each year boasting a number of winners across the different age categories. This year was no different, with four regional winners progressing to the national final: Lauren McTiernan (Convent of Mercy, Roscommon) in the 18 and over category, a previous winner in 2020, and Alicia Ward (Roscommon Community College) in the 14-17 age category, along with overall winners Aodhán and Varvara.

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