Past pupil's generous support for STEM awards in Athlone school

Dr Raji Ambikairajah, a past pupil of Our Lady's Bower in Athlone, has generously offered her support to the school in the form of personal funding she would like to attribute to STEM-based awards for senior-cycle biology, chemistry and physics students.

Raji was a student in Our Lady's Bower until 1999 when, in fifth year, her family moved from Athlone to Australia.

She remains in close contact with the school and continues to see herself as a Bower girl.

Raji holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering. She has spent much of her career in the technology start-up and venture capital sectors, but has recently been awarded a scholarship to study innovation at leading world university, MIT.

She is also CEO of Folo, a digital social enterprise that allows people to generate donations for causes they care about by shopping online, as well as an Ambassador for Room to Read, a global non-profit organisation that provides children in low-income countries with access to education.

On Wednesday, September 13, Dr Raji returned to Our Lady’s Bower to present her personally funded STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) awards.

Three €400 bursaries were presented to students from the Leaving Certificate Class of 2023, in recognition of being the most improved students in biology, chemistry and physics. Congratulations to Eliza Butt (Biology Award Winner), Hannah Duffy (Chemistry Award Winner) and Nicole Kelly (Physics Awards Winner).

Dr Raji also gave an inspirational talk to senior-cycle students, in which she highlighted the importance of, and need for, women in STEM.

Our Lady's Bower said it was very proud of all of Raji's achievements to date and would like to extend sincere gratitude to her for this wonderful initiative which will complement and build upon the support the school provides to girls in STEM.