French scholarship for Blacklion girl

Blacklion student Sionainn Fee has been awarded a scholarship to study at the prestigious École Normale Supérieure in Paris for the upcoming academic year.

Sionainn, who is a 22 year old final year student at Trinity College, will start her studies at the university as a pensionnaire étrangere (visiting international student) in September 2026.

Speaking to the Celt, Sionainn, who has a C1 level of French having already completed her Erasmus in Paris, says that it feels “incredibly special” to have been chosen for the scholarship.

“Opportunities like this can feel very distant when you grow up outside the city, which makes the experience all the more meaningful,” she says of coming from a rural area.

Alumni at the French institute include Irish writer Samuel Beckett, Nobel Prize in Literature nominee Jean-Paul Sartre and scientist Louis Pasteur, who invented the process of pasteurisation.

“It feels like a huge opportunity to know that I’m walking in the footsteps of such notable, historical figures,” said Sionainn.

“It’s an institution with an extraordinary reputation, it’s often described as the most elite university in France,” she says of École Normale Supérieure.

Each year, the French Department at Trinity selects one student for the scholarship.

Around 300 students are admitted to École Normale Supérieure every year through a “competitive process” of prep school, which Sionainn will avoid having been nominated.

During her time there, Sionainn will complete masters level classes and will carry out her own independent research based on her interests.

The scholarship includes free accommodation in Paris’ central 5th arrondissement, and students can also teach English as a foreign language in the Sorbonne while there.

Sionainn, who would like to complete a masters degree once she completes her studies in Paris, hopes that the scholarship will “open a lot of doors” for her.

“Perhaps it will bring me to places that I didn’t anticipate”, she adds.

Sionainn’s father’s work as an artist and her mother’s encouragement for her to study French helped her when choosing a college course after finishing secondary school in St Clare’s Comprehensive in Manorhamilton.

“I always wanted to go to Trinity,” she remarks.

“It just felt really natural for me, it felt like a good choice,” she says of her decision to study History of Art and French at Trinity.

“My parents were very supportive growing up and they always pushed me to strive to do well, especially coming from a rural area.”

Looking to the future, Sionainn would like to work in a gallery or a museum.

She has recently submitted her dissertation on the ‘Origins and Development of the Niland Collection at the Model in Sligo’.

Founded in 1960 by Nora Niland, Sligo County Librarian, the collection features prominent Irish art works, with a particular focus on the Northwest of Ireland, and a significant number of works created by Jack Butler Yeats.

“I really like researching local history, I think that’s very important,” Sionainn says.