Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award

My Mr16 has been striving to achieve the Duke of Edinburgh's award now for almost 3 full years.  He completed his Bronze award in year 9/10, his silver in year 10/11 and now is going for his gold award.

I have had mixed feelings about this award over the years.  It was always just another thing to have to do and fit in to his schedule which is already pretty full between his school work and his part time job.  I know this award is regarded highly when it comes to job seeking as it shows responsibility etc etc, but seriously,,,,,at times it can be a hard slog.  They have to do a certain amount of hours of "community service" type activity, learning a new skill, a physical activity and then also do a camp where they are the "team leader" and organise everything.  Last night though when he had his presentation night I was so proud of what he had achieved.  Apparently many kids start this award but not so many finish it.  As for achieving gold which is what he is going for at the moment, only about 20 kids make it to the end each year.  Last night was a school presentation night, we have the State Award presentation night at the end of October.  If he completes the Gold award it will be presented at Government House which will be a pretty special night for him, I saw his eyes light up when he found out that.

Mr16 has always struggled with school but he keeps on trying.  He has never been a straight A student but he has done well considering how hard he finds it all.  He is the sort of kid that just takes everything in his stride and always tries his best, what more could a mother ask for.

I love you mate and am so proud of the young man you are becoming!

Here is a photo of my boy having just received his Silver certificate.  The lady on the left is from the Department of Youth, she is one of the main co-ordinators of the Duke of Ed Award and the guy on the right is the Manager of Twelve25 where they have held all their weekly first aid classes etc.

And here is a picture of all the kids that received either their Bronze awards or their Silver Awards from the school this year.  Only Mr16 and one of the girls received their Silver Awards, all the rest are Bronze.  The lady on the far left is the School Principle and the guy second from the right is the teacher that goes above and beyond his job description to ensure that these kids can succeed  in the Award.  The kids that do the award are chosen by this teacher.  He chooses some who are causing trouble at school to give them something else to focus on and give their confidence a boost and then he chooses others for their keen sense of community and sense of responsibility, that just need to have more self confidence,,,,,my son fits into the latter group (thankfully lol).

They are all going on camp in two weeks time for 4 days out to Iron Knob.  They went there last year as well.  They all came back pretty grotty but they had a good time.  I only hope the weather is kind to them and doesn't get too hot.