Three young people from Laois received the Gaisce Gold Award honour for inspirational and outstanding contribution to society recently.
They were among 79 young people from across Ireland who were commended for their outstanding commitment to personal development and contribution to society at the Gaisce Gold Award ceremony.
President Michael D Higgins delivered the Gaisce Gold Award to each recipient at a ceremony which took place at Áras an Uachtaráin – the first Gaisce Gold Award Ceremony to take place in three years.
Kathy Seale from Mountrath, Miriam Keegan from Emo and Odhran Whelan from Portarlington were the Laois awardees.
Kathy is attached to National Learning Network, Miriam is with Laois Volunteer Centre while Odhran is attached to NUIG.
Combined, recipients invested more than 25,000 hours in personal development and voluntary activities to achieve these awards.
At the height of Covid in 2020-2021, over 40,000 young people aged 14-25 answered the President’s call to pursue a Gaisce Award, supported by over 1,200 President’s Award Leaders in 750 organisations Nationwide.
The Gaisce Gold Award is the nation’s highest recognition of a young person’s initiative, achievement, and voluntary contribution to society.
In order to complete a Gold Gaisce Award, each of today’s recipients set and achieved their own goals across challenge areas that include personal skill, physical activity, community involvement, team adventure journey and a residential project.
Since its inception, Gaisce has been committed to ensuring the accessibility of the Award, and to ensuring every young person can see themselves in the Award. Gaisce celebrates the innate talents and abilities of all young people in Ireland, regardless of their circumstances.
The Gaisce Awards, founded in 1985, recognise young people’s commitment to personal development and community action.
At the heart of Gaisce is a wide network of trained adult mentors, the President’s Award Leaders (or PALs) many of them Gaisce Awardees themselves.
PALs are instrumental in providing mentorship to young people across a wide variety of organisations including community, education, sport, disability and justice.
CEO of Gaisce, Yvonne McKenna said: “Gaisce – The President’s Award is unique in the sense that it encourages young people to set their own personal development goals within a framework that allows them to achieve them and contribute to their communities in their own way.
“Every single day, I am inspired by the courage, the energy and the commitment of young people doing their Gaisce Award, and I am so thrilled we are getting to celebrate the breath of their achievements, from tackling global challenges like biodiversity to local supports for neighbours in need, young people are consistently push themselves for others.
“With over 250,000 Awards achieved since 1985, there is an enormous community of like-minded awardees who we encourage to continue their involvement with Gaisce and inspire generations to come.”
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