Gaisce, also known as the President's Award, gives young people an ideal chance to develop themselves, writes Louise Holden
Every Monday morning, an embarrassingly large number of us make resolutions. I must get some exercise. I must take up the guitar. I must volunteer. I must, I must, I must. Short of a personality transplant, the President's Award is the best option for the terminally undisciplined. Unfortunately, it's available only to people aged from 15 to 25, but they are signing up in their droves.
Transition Year students are particularly keen on the award, which offers the chance to earn a little piece of CV gold while fulfilling all those resolutions. This year at Terenure College, in Dublin, almost half of the 100 Transition Year students signed up for the President's Award, or Gaisce, and only one didn't see the challenge through. Pretty easy, then, is it?
"It was a real challenge for me at times," says Kevin Niland, one of the group, who is due to receive his bronze award next month. "The recreational category was fine, because I chose kayaking and it's my favourite sport anyway. Weights training at lunchtime and weekly community work were not so easy."
Getting a bronze President's Award requires spending 26 weeks developing a personal skill, such as learning an instrument or a language. The community-involvement category comprises 15 weeks of voluntary work of your choice. Participants have been known to work with older people in their neighbourhoods, mentor younger pupils in schools or work in charity shops, hospitals and youth clubs.
The third category of the bronze award requires every participant to spend 12 weeks involved in a physical activity of their choice. Some students are already involved in rugby or swimming and can count that as part of the programme. For many others it's a new departure.
Each of the categories requires one hour a week for the designated period. Gaisce participants also take on a 100km walking or cycling expedition to a destination of their choice. The uninitiated may ramble through the Wicklow Mountains over a long weekend. The more intrepid Gaisce nominee might be found anywhere from the Alps to the Andes. Successful candidates are then invited to progress to the silver and gold programmes, which require longer time commitments for each module.
The students at Terenure College are a sporty lot, and they tailored their programmes to reflect that. Edward McNamara, who's in sixth year and going for gold, carries out his community-involvement module at the local scouts' club, where he leads team sports for the cubs; for the personal-skill category he's learning how to be a lifesaver. That's on top of his weekly tennis training (physical-recreation category) and a three-day hike around Achill Island.
His classmate Aidan Massey is volunteering at the local scout group, too, and for his personal-skill requirement he's weight training at lunchtimes. Fifth-year silver-medal hopeful Robert Gardiner now spends his weekends learning golf and playing soccer with 10-year-olds at a scout camp. He's slipped culture into the programme, too, by taking up the guitar.
Most of the Terenure College Gaisce participants are in Transition Year: half the year has taken on the programme. Kevin Niland, who's weight training, life saving and kayaking his way to a bronze medal, insists that not everyone at the school is a total Sport Billy. "The range of stuff that people are getting up to for this award is amazing," he says. "One guy is learning sign language so he can communicate with his grandad. A couple of guys are taking a Toastmasters course to brush up on their public speaking. About half a dozen students who wouldn't be bookworms ordinarily have committed to reading 20 books recommended by the English teacher. There's drama, drums, website design, buddy systems with younger students, charity-shop work: everyone's really busy with this."
Up the road, at Loreto High School Beaufort, the girls tell a similar story. "Out of 96 TY students, 50 are doing the bronze-award programme this year," says fourth-year student Niamh Callaghan. "The school is just buzzing with all the various activities. A lot of the participants got together and set up a green committee for our community-involvement module. Now the school is spotless, we're recycling and composting, the caretakers have less to do and we were awarded a green flag by An Taisce last week."
Niamh has also set up a teen magazine and entered it in the Young Entrepreneur of the Year competition (for her personal-skill module), as well as swimming every week and climbing mountains in Co Wicklow. She plans to go for silver next year, as she wants to learn web design and martial arts.
Catherine Collins, who is also in Transition Year at Loreto Beaufort, has fulfilled a lifelong ambition to play water polo, as part of her physical- recreational module. "I wasn't exactly sporty before, and did nothing physical during my Junior Cert year, so it's been great to get fit," says Catherine, who is also taking piano lessons and working with the green committee. "I've never stuck with anything in my life, but now I don't miss any of my weekly appointments, because I want to get the bronze medal."
Cara Fenlon has used the programme to engage in a bit of career sampling. "I am considering a career in social work, but I'm not sure if I have what it takes," says Cara, who is also swimming and learning the trumpet for the award. "I'm volunteering in a nursing home for the community- involvement module, to see if I have the right skills. It was tough at first; some of the residents seemed so ill, and getting up on a Saturday morning to go to such a sad place was really challenging. Now I have developed relationships with the residents, and I don't see it as a sad environment any more. I chat to the ladies there about boys and clothes and all the normal stuff, and we have a laugh."
Aisling Hogan and Aisling Fanning both took the bronze programme in Transition Year last year; they are now heading for silver medals. "I'm so glad I got involved in this," says Aisling Fanning, who has learned life saving, piano, first aid, golf and environmental awareness in the two years of her involvement with the Gaisce award. "I might have had a go at these skills anyway, but I wouldn't have stuck with them all. Not a chance."
Visit www.p-award.net for more details
What's involved in the award
Who's involved? More than 11,000 people applied to take part in the President's Award programme this academic year. About 80 per cent were transition-year students.
What's involved? Participants set themselves four challenges and agree the programme with a President's Award leader. The four challenge areas are personal skill, community involvement, physical and adventure. Students must spend one hour a week on each of the first three areas for a set number of weeks (depending on the level) and complete a one-off adventure challenge for the fourth.
What are Gaisce participants doing? Personal skill: musical instruments, computer training, speech and drama, languages, arts and crafts, first aid, life saving, enterprise, dancing, personal development, woodwork, chess, model aircraft, sign language, reading programmes and more.
Community involvement: environmental projects, charity-shop work, caring for elderly neighbours, volunteering at local scout groups or youth centres, mentoring younger students, running homework clubs and similar activities.
Physical: Sport of any description.
Adventure: mountain climbing, kayaking, horseriding, canoeing, orienteering.
How does it work? There are three types of award: bronze, silver and gold. The minimum age for the bronze award is 15, and it is earned over a minimum of six months. The minimum age for the silver award is 16; the programme runs over at least 12 months. The gold award is for participants over the age of 17 and is earned over a minimum of 18 months.
