Absolute dedication and determination are amongst the qualities that helped Stanford Lake College (SLC) learner Sarah Pogrund successfully complete a Gold President’s Award in the Duke of Edinburgh International Awards programme.
The award is made to candidates who achieve goals set to offer young people an opportunity to discover themselves, teach them elements of perseverance, self- reliance, responsibility and selflessness.
As Sarah was busy writing her Grade 12 exams at the time of the award ceremony, the accolade was posted to her.
This highly prestigious and internationally recognised award entails completion of five requirements in a period of 12 months: service, physical recreation, adventurous journey, skills or interest and a residential project.
SLC was the first school in the province to introduce the President’s Award and today is the Limpopo school with the most participants. All Grade 8 learners are registered as part of the curriculum and after being awarded a bronze award, they can progress to the silver level and finally a gold award. Sarah is the only one of a group of around 50 of her peers who has so far achieved a gold award.
She enrolled in 2014 and started fulfilling the requirements for the bronze award. This meant doing three months of service, three months of sport, three months of learning a new skill and doing an adventurous journey. Sarah assisted with a reading programme at Glenshiel Primary School, learnt to play hockey, mastered calligraphy and climbed Iron Crown, the highest peak in the province.
Working towards the silver award she conquered the Spine of the Dragon, the highest peak in South Africa. Her six months of service included odds and ends such as working at the SPCA, marshalling races at school and doing more work at Genshiel. She learnt to play the piano, completed the Ebenezer Mile and attended an adventure camp for learners at the Mulungishe Dam in Zambia where she participated in non-motorised sports such as abseiling and a triathlon.
“Our Ubuntu team achieved second place against teams from Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia and overseas. I also climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in June 2015 as part of the requirements for my gold award. This was the most difficult part and required a lot of determination. I had a very busy school programme this year, being in matric and having to do 12 months of service, which I did mostly over the weekends, and twelve months of learning a new skill. I took up mountain biking and achieved provincial colours for it. I also worked at the Endangered Wildlife Centre in Hoedspruit for five days.”
Sarah was head girl of SLC this year and is an academic achiever who aims for seven distinctions. She plans to study towards a Bachelor degree in Social Sciences, Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the University of Cape Town next year.
“I want to help South Africa in this way as our biggest problems are political and economical in nature.”
The programme encompasses pillars of service to learn how to give useful service to others, skills to encourage the development of personal interests and practical skills, physical recreation or sport to encourage participation in physical recreation and improvement of performance and an adventurous journey to encourage a spirit of adventure and discovery whilst undertaking a journey in a group.
Enrolled participants have to take part in activities for a certain period of time, increasing from bronze to silver to the gold award. The programme is operational in over 140 countries around the world, 25 of which are on the African continent.
Each enrolled person has a mentor or coach and they must log the period of time in which they were doing the relevant activity. Where and whenever possible they must collect or compile information such as photos, certificates, reports, letters verifying all activities undertaken that can be collated in a portfolio of evidence.
Story and photo: NELIE ERASMUS
>>nelie.observer@gmail.com
Featured photo: Sarah Pogrund.
