On Friday 9 November, 22 students received their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Awards certificates and badges. The Bronze Award is the first level of the program and involves a 3-6 month commitment plus 4 days of an adventurous journey.
The Duke of Edinburgh program is an internationally recognised award that invites young people aged 14-25 to realise their ambitions and to change their world.
Young people challenge themselves by choosing activities that spark their interest in the three sections of the award – service, physical and skill. They set their own goals and work towards achieving them over the given time period.
Year 9 Bronze Awards:
Craig Bonnington, Freya Bryson, Kaidin Dalzotto, Jonah Fleming, Alex Higgins, Jessica Hobson, Oliver Huang, Emma Jones, Victoria McKenzie, Laura Mitcham, Kaitlyn Oldaker, Katey O’Reilly, Eden Riddell, Ashley Smith, Mitchell Snowball, Lydia Tan, Holly Whitfield, Lauren Wooller.
Year 10 Bronze Awards:
Stella Burke, Corey Dickson, Lauren Maxwell-Greenwood
Year 11 Bronze Award:
Elissa Wright
Congratulations to these students!
Laura Mitcham (Year 9) made the following comments at the assembly about her Duke of Edinburgh Award Journey this year:
I chose to do the Duke of Ed program as I had heard about it through school and, also externally from family friends who had previously completed it and loved the experience. For my Bronze Award, I chose to pursue some activities that I was already involved in, but I also chose some new activities that I had not done before. For my skill, I chose to use Intermediate and Concert Choirs. I was already a member of both of these choirs, but I challenged and extended myself by singing second soprano to learn how better to hold an internal part. For my service, I chose to use my role as a middle school leader. Although this was a commitment I had already made, I put more thought into what I did and committed a little extra time to the role to justify including it as part of by Bronze Award. My physical activity was playing in an external rugby league team and this was something that I had never done before. Playing rugby league was definitely something that pushed me outside my comfort zone, as it is not exactly a sport someone of my height and build would play. My adventurous journey was the Wilsons Promontory Hike that I did at the start of the year as part of the Year 9 Outdoor Education program. One thing I learnt about the Bronze Award is that it does not take too much extra time as you can use activities that you already pursue. The important thing is to have a clear goal for each activity that extends you from where you currently are. Through pursuing this award, I have tried new activities and thought more carefully about what I wanted to achieve in the activities I was already doing. Overall, the award was a really fun and rewarding experience and I would 100% recommend it to anyone who is thinking about it. I plan to pursue both my Silver and Gold Awards and hope to be standing on stage again next year and in Year 12 to receive both of these awards. I look forward to taking part in the amazing adventurous journeys that are offered at these levels.
by Anne Bortolussi, Co-ordinator Duke of Edinburgh Awards Program
