Congratulations to the following students who achieved their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, the award requires dedication, commitment and initiative. This is a fine achievement. Well done!

Bronze Award: Jimin Kim, Daisy Sun

Silver Award: Phoebe Driscole, Ying Ying Yong, Belle Dykman

Here are some reflections from students:

Bronze: Daisy Sun

This year I completed my Duke of Edinburgh Bronze award. I am proud to have overcome many challenges on this journey. My physical recreation was completed by developing my breaststroke in swimming and building more strength on pointe in ballet. On Saturdays I volunteered at park run events as a barcode scanner or a timekeeper. For my skill, I worked on building my technique for grade 7 flute through working on finger or breathing exercises. In this journey I faced challenges from just waking up early every Saturday for Park run to completing more challenging tramps. Overall, I really enjoyed this journey as I faced a myriad of challenges that have made me more resilient than before. My favourite highlights in achieving my bronze award were the tramps and volunteering. Both tramping and volunteering were challenging in their own ways but, at the end of the day, seeing how happy and dedicated everyone was made the effort worth it. 

Silver: Phoebe Driscole

For my Silver Duke of Edinburgh award, I developed my netball skills for my sport. I have played netball for many years, but this year I wanted to become a more versatile and accurate goal shoot and develop my court skills. I played in a school netball team. For my skill I focussed on theatre and drama skills. Every Thursday and Friday I attended drama and theatre skills classes, and I performed in the PNBHS/PNGHS production as the understudy for the lead Truly Scrumptious, the role of Perdita in Shakespeare’s North Productions show of The Winter’s Tale, and Celia in the PNBHS Rector’s Company performance of As You Like It. For my voluntary service I was both an English tutor to three PNGHS students (Year 10 and Year 13), and I am a current member of the Palmerston North Youth Council as the Media Executive. For my Practice Tramp, I tramped to Stanfield Hut and Cattle Creek Hut. For my Qualifying journey, I tramped to Jumbo Hut and Powell hut. A highlight is my service on the Palmy Youth Council, I can actively make a difference in my community. I have been involved in various community projects and advocate for youth voices in the local palmy community. I have loved connecting with other young people from around the region, writing submissions to the council about how to adapt palmy for the benefit of young people, and creating a strong social media presence for the council, to keep young people updated about opportunities open to them.

Silver: Belle Dykman

For my Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award, I aimed at progressing my baking, for the skills side of my Award. I crafted many different recipes and aimed at using ingredients going off in my fridge. I also did walking as the Physical Recreational side of my Award. I walked around 3-4 times per week for around 30-60 minutes each time. As my major, I volunteered at Just Zilch. Every Monday, for two hours I would involve myself with the community by greeting customers, filling trays and marking and bagging foods. Lastly, I went on two tramps, and a training session to complete my Award. I did my training near Dannevirke where I slept under a flysheet - it was really cold! For my Practice and Training tramps I did the same route twice. This was the Jumbo to Powell circuit at Mt Holdsworth. I can now say I have been to the Mt Holdsworth Summit Twice!

Silver: Ying Ying Yong

For my Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award, I focused on increasing my fluency in Mandarin as my skill. For voluntary service, I volunteered as an assistant dance teacher at Maximum Dance Zone, guiding younger dancers in their development. My major for physical recreation, required after skipping straight to Silver, involved completing 52 hours of dance, split between Ballet and Hip-Hop. I sat my RAD Intermediate Ballet Exam and completed the NZAMD Hip-Hop syllabus, earning a scholarship nomination for being in the top 1% of senior NZAMD Hip-Hop exam grades. A highlight of this journey was honing my teaching skills, leading to my qualification as a Hip-Hop dance teacher. I now teach three classes a week, two of which are in collaboration with the Rangitikei Council, where I co-run a program that promotes extracurricular activities in the arts within rural communities in Bulls.