Name: James Bohan

Career Position: Project Hydrogeologist

Years spent at KCS: from Year 2009 3. Years spent at KCS - to Year 2015

What were your favourite classes/subjects at KCS: Geography Woodwork / Construction Maths Science / Biology

Best memories of KCS: Seeing my friends everyday

Travelling with Ger Hogan, George Hayes and the golf team to play tournaments

The wholesome banter everyday in school that is unattainable in the workplace

Coming into class after lunch on a sunny Thursday or Friday where everyone is giddy

Tell us about your academic and career path to date: Finished my leaving cert in 2015, went to UL in September to study Environmental Science. I didn't settle in well and dropped out at the beginning of the second semester. I spent a couple of years working in golf where I spent 1 year working in a country club in Florida in 2016 while trying to figure out what to do. I went back to study Environmental Science in CIT in 2017 where I graduated in 2021. I the started a Masters in UCD in September 2021 again in Environmental Science and graduated in December 2022. Towards the end of my MSc I managed to get a job working for Minerex Environmental, a Environmental Consultancy in Dublin. They specialise in groundwater remediation and construction site dewatering, it was a small company where I worked hard and learned so much and made some new friends. I left Minerex in July 2023 to utilise my J1 Graduate visa before it expired. I am now living in San Francisco working for another consultancy where we assess, remediate and commission public water supply wells for water companies all across the US with most of our work being down in Los Angles. We are also working with some lithium exploration companies to try and understand if it is feasible to extract lithium from deep groundwater >1000 ft in the central valley of California.

If you weren't in the job you have, what would you be doing?: I would probably be working as a professional golf caddy, who knows I might yet!

What advice would you give your teenage self?: Don't be afraid to try anything especially the things that you don't think you'll be able to do. Literally anything is achievable if you give it enough effort.

Favourite quote or motto: Everyday is a school day.

Who/what has been your biggest influence in education? Diarmaid O Donovan