Secondary schools around the country are wrapping up today, after a mixture of in-person and remote learning in recent months.
But the end of the academic year has an added significance at St Mary's College in Galway, where an education tradition, spanning more than a century, is ending.
Built on a 25 acre site just a short distance from the city centre, the school has had thousands of students pass through its doors since it first opened in 1912.
Now, as part of an amalgamation with the nearby Our Lady’s College, the building will be rebranded as Coláiste Muire Máthair from next September.
It ends the 109 year history of one of the best-known schools in the west of Ireland.
Operating for boarders for over nine decades, St Mary's has more recently been catering for just day students.
As staff worked to clear out rooms and pack away materials this week, there were signs everywhere of the rich history of the building.
In the main entrance hall, the walls are lined with framed photographs, while heaving trophy cabinets and engraved rolls of honour detail the sporting, academic and extracurricular pursuits the school was famous for.
And in the middle of all that is an old black payphone, with A and B buttons, used by thousands of boarders over the years to call home or arrange for the dispatch of emergency supplies.
Principal Eamonn Veale says that it’s a time of mixed emotions for St Mary's staff. There’s excitement about what the future holds but also a strong sense of what has gone before.
He makes particular reference to several teachers who received their second level education in the school, before returning to tutor students in the years that followed.
Among that 'poachers turned gamekeepers' cohort are Mike Murphy and Paul Concannon. Both speak fondly of their time in the school in the early 1990s, when around 100 students were still residing there.
Mr Concannon describes past pupils as being part of a wider family, linked by their time at St Mary’s. It’s a sentiment that many share as the college’s time comes to a formal end.
Local historian Peadar O’Dowd attended in the mid to late 1950s for "five of the happiest years" of his life.
He recalls the strong hurling tradition and many hours spent learning Latin and Greek, through Irish.
Mr O’Dowd says the construction of the building was a major achievement in the architectural life of the city, too. Designed by William A Scott, it’s built with Galway granite and locally sourced limestone.
And pride in the place is also evident among the Class of 2021.
Mircea Tabalae and Samuel Cooke are both hoping to study at NUI Galway. As their second level education nears an end, they feel proud of their school and of having carried forward traditions that started near the the turn of the last century.
Pointing to the school crest on his uniform, Samuel says it’s a "badge of honour" that carries a lot of history, something students have been cognisant of throughout their time at St Mary’s.
After today's graduation ceremonies, work will begin on a major adaptation of the building ahead of its re-purposing as Coláiste Muire Máthair.
Eamonn Veale says that will begin a new chapter in Galway’s educational history; one mindful of the past but ready to guide future generations of locals towards adulthood.
That sentiment is shared by school chaplain, Fr Martin Whelan. He says St Mary’s had a huge significance for the region and that the new co-ed school will carry forward the ethos and vision of its constituent parts.
