{"id":17492,"date":"2025-08-23T02:57:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T02:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/17492\/"},"modified":"2025-08-23T02:57:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T02:57:12","slug":"i-flushed-my-leaving-cert-results-down-the-toilet-i-felt-id-let-myself-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/17492\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I flushed my Leaving Cert results down the toilet… I felt I\u2019d let myself down’"},"content":{"rendered":"

A college president who flushed his own Leaving Cert<\/a> results down the toilet \u201cout of pure embarrassment\u201d has encouraged students not to let their exams define them.<\/p>\n

Entrepreneur Karl Fitzpatrick told the Irish Examiner about preferring to destroy his Leaving Cert results after receiving them rather than take them home to hand over to his parents.<\/p>\n

The Cork man is now the president and chief executive of Chevron College, a QQI-accredited e-learning provider of further and higher education programmes.<\/p>\n

The Wexford-based business employs 135 staff members and provides education and training to 15,000 students annually.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Fitzpatrick is also among the EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalists this year, which he describes as \u201cthe honour of a lifetime\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was in my 30s, I remember somebody saying to me \u2018you\u2019d never get a job with EY or PwC or KPMG or any of those because you don\u2019t have a third-level education\u2019, so it was quite ironic that I went on to be recognised on the EY Entrepreneur programme.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although he went on to establish a successful business career, Mr Fitzpatrick describes receiving his exam results in 1996 as the darkest day of his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn an annual basis, I am reminded of that. On Leaving Cert results day each year, it brings me back to that day,” he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Even though I\u2019ve moved on so much, it’s still sketched into my mind. It’s as if [I thought] I\u2019d have the Leaving Cert results imprinted into my forehead for the rest of my life, and that everyone I ever met for the rest of my life would see them and judge me.”<\/p>\n

He attended Presentation Brothers College, and while he found school enjoyable, he never felt fully engaged.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the eldest of three boys. We were given every opportunity. Going to school, and getting to know new people and new friends, that was fine. It was just something about the academic side of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t suit me, it didn\u2019t engage me. I never thought about dropping out, don\u2019t get me wrong, but I was looking forward to finishing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He had thought he might get the results he needed to study business at CIT, but “it just didn\u2019t transpire”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The day of the Leaving Cert results I went down, and I got what I deserved. It was no reflection on the school, it was no reflection on the education system.<\/p>\n

“You can\u2019t personalise it for everybody. I was so disappointed, and I had such a lack of confidence after it, I didn\u2019t want to bring those Leaving Cert results home out of pure embarrassment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember after reading them, deciding that I didn\u2019t want to see them any longer and I went into the bathroom and I flushed them down the toilet. It\u2019s not something I wanted to be reminded of. It wasn\u2019t something I wanted to hand over to my parents for them to read.<\/p>\n

\n I felt like I\u2019d let them down, and I\u2019d let myself down. I felt like I didn\u2019t need to be reminded of these Leaving Cert results.\n <\/p>\n

Mr Fitzpatrick said his parents “were disappointed to say the very least\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to see anybody afterwards for a few days. I didn\u2019t want to answer questions, so I avoided neighbours and friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cI laid low, I certainly wasn\u2019t celebrating. A few days into it, a family member had a chat with me and said \u2018this seems to be getting you really down\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said: \u2018This is just one exam at a moment in time of your life. You can\u2019t leave it limit you in terms of what you want to do’.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey asked me what is it that you want to do? I thought, well I want to be in business, I want to gain skills to develop my own business down the road. They said ‘well why don\u2019t you get a job with a business? Start at the bottom and work your way up’.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He took their advice, and a few days later started to call to every business on the South Mall, eventually getting hired as a post boy with an insurance brokerage for IR\u00a330 a week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was delighted to take it. For me, at that time, it seemed like it was a second chance at a career, and I wasn\u2019t going to blow that one.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2012, Mr Fitzpatrick invested his life savings to purchase Chevron College out of examinership. In 2025, the company is on track to bring in \u20ac25m in revenue, and make \u20ac3m in profit.<\/p>\n

At 40 years old, during covid, he returned to education, completing a law degree in UCC.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was far more beneficial to do that degree at 40 than if I had succeeded in getting the points and wanting to do it at 18,\u201d Mr Fitzpatrick said.<\/p>\n

His advice for students disappointed with their results is not to be discouraged.<\/p>\n

\n There\u2019s never been more options for students who didn\u2019t get the points they need for what they want to do next.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cWhether that\u2019s in terms of apprenticeships, or alternatively there are 1,800 linked PLC courses available today. They can provide a bridge into a university after completing them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Leaving Cert does not have to define you, if you don\u2019t allow it to.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A college president who flushed his own Leaving Cert results down the toilet \u201cout of pure embarrassment\u201d has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17493,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[781,14468,79,2597,18,19,17,14330],"class_list":{"0":"post-17492","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-cork-news","9":"tag-state-exams","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-education","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-leaving-cert"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}