We are super proud and excited to acknowledge past students, Kauri Palmer and Marc Monnet-Demarbre on their attainment of the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award. I would also like to acknowledge Mya Hill, who graduated last year, on attaining the Award although she has yet to be presented with her Award at a ceremony.
The Gold Award requires the participant to undertake a minimum of 52 hours in each areas of skill, physical activity and service. Plus they undertake a residential project that has them away from home for minimum 4 nights investigating and working on something of interest with people they wouldn’t normally be with. Finally, they do both a practice and qualifying journey, again, each over 4 nights with a minimum of 8 hours effort in the day.
Kauri undertook cooking as her skill, where she learned a range of different meal plans to take her through into the future. For physical she did personal training, setting goals and working toward achieving them. The Art Space that we run at school on Monday afternoons was initially instigated by her enthusiasm to share her love of art. She brought various activities and projects to the session to assist students to expand their artist capacities and was hugely successful in the program she taught over two years! Kauri had an overseas exchange of which she counted as her residential project and she connected in with an external provider to do a pack and paddle trip on the Colo River through Somerset where she made new friends and immersed herself in the environment.
Marc developed his techniques and strategies doing archery and personal fitness (during Covid) for his physical. He was courageous to learn sign language as a skill. For service did a range of activities including tending a community garden, worked with a food coop provide and promote proper disposal of waste. For his gold residential project, Marc did an extensive first aid course over 2 weekends. Working with Outdoor Eco Programs on Pittwater as his Adventure Exploration landed him the following assessment:
Marc was an absolute delight to have on our Gold DofE program. He is incredibly self-possessed, capable and independent, as well as a compassionate and a great team-player. He was engaged, inquisitive, thoughtful and respectful in all activities and conversations he took part in. We look forward to seeing his ideas in regard to conservation evolve.
Mya formed her Award around her love of music, particularly trumpet playing. She honed her trumpeting skills further in that activity as well as attending a music camp during the holidays as her residential project. Her physical activity involved both swimming and kayaking and service saw her working with several Glenaeon students as a math’s tutor. Mya’s adventure journey took her to Wolgan Valley with a team of others doing their Award, and worked with our own Scottie Williams to explore routes, caves and water sources as further opportunities for our Year 7 and 9 School programs.
Congratulations Kauri, Marc and Mya!