Four inspirational young people from Limerick were presented with Gaisce gold awards by President Higgins at a special awards ceremony in Dublin Castle on Wednesday.
Tara Rogers, Aisling Kelleher, Maria Prendeville and Pauline Frewen were among 55 young people from across Ireland who received their Gold Award, having dedicated a total of more than 12,000 hours to voluntary and community service.
Since its inception in 1985 an estimated 150,000 young Irish people have completed a Gaisce Award, including former Rose of Tralee Maria Walsh and Irish rugby international and Connaught player Robbie Henshaw.
Gaisce – The President’s Award is a direct challenge from President Michael D. Higgins to young people aged 15-25 to dream big and realise their potential, push their boundaries and develop skills which will stand to them throughout their lives.
This year’s Gold award recipients successfully completed five challenge areas for 52 weeks or more – volunteering with a charity or community group, developing an existing skill or learned something new, becoming more active through sport or exercise, taking part in a four-day adventure journey and broadening their horizons on a five day residential stay away from home.
All of them previously received the Gaisce Bronze and Silver awards.
Tara Rogers undertook a residential project in Lourdes where she says the pilgrimage made her faith stronger.
For the community involvement section of her award, Aisling Kelleher volunteered with VTP (Voluntary Tuition Programme) during her four years at Trinity College Dublin providing children from the inner city with one-to-one tuition and other activities. She attended contemporary dance classes for her physical recreation criterion, and completed the 109km “Border Abbeys Way” in Scotland for her adventure journey.
Pauline Frewen is the first young person from Macra na Feirme to receive a Gold Award, and for her physical activity she took part in cycling and running. She went to the Aran Islands for her adventure journey.
Maria Prendeville from Askeaton joined her local Tidy Town’s group for her Community Involvement activity. She undertook art classes for her personal skills, joined a gym and took up road biking for physical recreation. Her adventure journey took her over the Kerry way and for her residential project she volunteered with Oxfam Stewards in the UK.
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