By David Kavanagh | posted on December 5, 2019
A PAIR of Albany men joined the ranks of thousands of young achievers around the world last week when they received the prestigious Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award at a ceremony in Perth.
Eighteen-year-old Sam Reeves and 22-year-old Simeon Colback each spent several years taking part in the structured youth development program, which stresses individual goal-setting and self-improvement.
“There was definitely a sense of accomplishment of it all coming together,” Mr Reeves said of winning the prize.
“When you first start, you set out what you want to do for your category and you have to set goals. I definitely met those goals and then some, so it’s a big achievement.”
The initiative’s Gold Award requires participants to meet criteria in five categories including physical recreation, skills, voluntary service, adventurous journey and a residential project.
For Mr Reeves, this involved volunteering his time at Albany State Emergency Service, coaching air rifle at PCYC, playing cricket, engaging in a 12-day Outward Bound navigator course in Walpole and spending six days aboard the STS Leeuwin II.
“It requires dedication more than anything,” he said.
Mr Colback, also an SES volunteer, initially entered the program through his position at the Army Cadets.
He said for him many of the criteria for the award were satisfied when he ran numerous adventure trips in Karijini over the span of two years.
“I started running these just for me and my mates. We would all get together and I’d take them canyoning through the gorges there which is a ton of fun,” he said.
“There’s some people that go overseas and rebuild places for this, others who might learn how to speak a different language or learn how to computer code.
“It’s purely a way of getting youth to go and do more stuff and then through that, it helps them figure out what you’re good at and where to go in life.”
Mr Colback now works as a tour operator in the national park for West Oz Active, while Mr Reeves hopes to study a Contemporary Bachelor of Music at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.
The duo encouraged others to sign up for the initiative.
“The Army cadets are actually going to start up an award centre to help others take part,” Mr Colback said.
“Hopefully more people in Albany get the award because it’s really great and looks amazing on your resume.”
More than eight million young people from 130 countries around the world have participated in the program since it was founded roughly 60 years ago.
