Congratulations to Yr 12 Student Christopher Harrison who has been awarded the Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award. Chris has outlined below what he has done to achieve this:
I completed three required segments in 78 hours over 26 weeks. A service, physical recreation, and a completely new skill. Before beginning the award level, I needed to set appropriate goals for each of them and get their approval from my award leader.
For my service, every Sunday morning, I went to my church early to lead primary school children. I did track and long distance running at least twice a week for physical recreation. For my skill, I enrolled in a beekeeping class that met outside of school every Monday.
Silver, in particular, required 26 hours to complete over a 6-month period. The Journey was the fourth and final section to be finished. This included training, a practice trip, and a qualifying trip. I attended a two-day training that covered everything from river crossing safety to weather reading, grid references, and how to tell the direction of the north using the sun. This training had to be completed and verified by an assessor with a certificate to demonstrate your ability to work outside. I completed a camp on Mount Ruapehu that covered both my practice and qualifying journeys. The practice lasted two days and one night, during which we were given tips on what to do and what not to do for our qualifying. The qualifying was a three-day, two-night tramp with pass/fail conditions based on the compatibility of the group members.
Well done Christopher, we are very proud.
