Fifty young people were presented with prestidious Gaisce Gold Awards by President Mary McAleese, in Dublin Castle, at a special ceremony on Monday last.
The President’s Award Programme, which currently enjoys its 25th year in existence, honours young achievers in four named categories: Personal Skills Development, Community Involvement, Adventurous Expedition, Physical Recreation, and medals are awarded to individuals who achieve their agreed goals in all four of these categories.
The fifty men and women honoured at yesterday’s ceremony included three recipients from Co. Tipperary. These Tipperary recipients are named as Zoë Murphy a native of Clonmel, Co Tipperary, Ciara O’Meara, Borrisokane, Co Tipperary and Clodagh Joyce, also from Clonmel, Co Tipperary.
Commenting on the wide variety of achievements and experiences celebrated by this years Awards Ceremony, President McAleese , pointing out that the very heart of the Gaisce Programme, was the choice, by this years contenders, to not wait for life to grab them, but instead to have choosen to go out and grab life.
President McAleese stated:
“Your achievements were not merely a series of gratifying experiences, but are ones that have deepened you, sharpened you and changed you quite profoundly. Your imprint of the Gaisce Gold Award on your Curriculum Vitaes should signal to college applications officers, recruiters and employers that you are people of initiative, showing leadership, dynamism and self-discipline. It may well open doors to you in these early days of your adult lives and careers, but the imprint of Gaisce Gold on your future lives will reveal itself over your span of many years. It will have helped awaken in you a determination to be considerably more than a mere spectator on the sidelines of life. You have put down a marker here today, that you are now what you intend always to be, active contributors to your own lives, to your community and to our society as a whole.”
The Gaisce Awards are non-competitive and are presented at three separate levels, namely Bronze, Silver and Gold each year. Gaisce Gold Awards are affectionally known as ‘Goldies’ and all entrants must successfully complete agreed tasks, decided between the participant and a President Award Leader (PAL) volunteer.
A record number of nearly 17,000 young people, between the ages of 15 and 25, fully participated in the Gaisce Award programme last year.
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