Buckie Community High School Pupils Youth Awards.
See Alan
IT was time to celebrate the community efforts of local young people when a special awards ceremony was held at Buckie Community High School. Around 150 people turned up, along with proud families, to see certificates presented across a range of awards. Success in a total of five schemes were rewarded on what was a packed evening: Hi5; Duke of Edinburgh Bronze; Dynamic Youth Awards; Saltire Volunteering awards; Youth Achievement Awards. One of those delighted to see the efforts of so many young people publicly recognised was Moray Council senior youth worker for the Buckie area Barbara Leitch. “I’m delighted to see so many of our young people here tonight to have the work they have done celebrated,” she said. “It’s also wonderful to be able to offer this opportunity for family and friends to come along and share in this, which so many of them have managed to do, which is brilliant. “They have earned their awards through volunteering and by doing this helping the communities they live in. “Many people think that
young folk nowadays don’t do anything – well, I think we’ve proved that wrong here tonight.” All of the award winners, aged from five through to 18, worked towards their awards through the council’s Community Learning and Development team, including Mrs Leitch, which is based at BCHS. She went on to say that the efforts of many young people who give up their time outside these schemes was going unrecognised. She continued: “There’s a big focus on volunteering among young people this year and there’s a lot of it happening in our
communities. Many young people are giving their own time and working hard for their communities but don’t realise that they can actually be recognised through one of these schemes for their efforts.” Mrs Leitch added that the uptake levels among young people for the various volunteering-based awards on offer had been steadily increasing year on year. To find out more about the many opportunities available through a number of award schemes, phone the youth team (01542) 832605 or pop in by their base at BCHS situated near the main reception. BCHS itself has a strong ethos of encouraging students to volunteer their time, both within and outwith school. The last few years have seen students feature in the finals of the Moray Young Citizen Awards, including the Tanzania exchange group linked with Mawenzi Secondary School.