The FCJ school in Bunclody has 179 first year students from every corner of Wexford, Carlow and Wicklow. Niall Kehoe from The Moyne, Enniscorthy is one of these students.
Niall has designed and created 6 apps which are available on the iOS App Store. His first app was published at age 10 making him the youngest iOS App Developer in Europe, a full 2 years younger than the previous holder, Jordan Casey.
He created another app which saves your ideas to the cloud and reminds you about them in conjunction with the multi-national corporation, Salesforce. He created My Voice 2.0 which was designed to help his cousin who has Down Syndrome to help her to communicate and it has been downloaded more than 3,500 times worldwide.
His most recent project is FCJ Spelling – it is designed to help people learn spelling with a special emphasis on people with dyslexia. It has been endorsed by the American Dyslexia Association. In June 2017, Niall attended the World Wide Developers Conference in San Jose, California as a guest of Apple, one of only two 13 year olds awarded scholarships.
Niall and his FCJ team are currently working on an Android version of the FCJ Spelling app. To code this app, Niall has had to learn a new coding language – Java. It is expected to be out this January 2018. This is a major progression as the major flaw that the team found on visits to Co. Wexford schools was that all students would not have access to an Apple device.
Niall is also a mentor and an active member in CoderDojo and overall has had more than 15,000 downloads of his apps.
Niall is our first ever super Junior Award Winner for the South East Radio / Talbot Hotel Outstanding Achievement Awards. This is a new Junior programme recognising those who make a difference in our community.
Niall is constantly creating things. His dad said you learn just how much computer coding will dictate the future. His teacher Mr. Daly said “all his students are wonderful. Niall is so talented in so many ways, but what is lovely is that he is an ordinary lad, mixes in well with all the students. He participates, loves hurling and football and has made lots of friends in the FCJ”.
Niall was delighted with his award and with winning a day out in Leisure Max and a family meal in the Talbot Hotel, Wexford. He is a credit to himself, his family and his school.