St Andrew’s College was the first school in the country to introduce the President’s Award programme in 1983. At that stage it was known as The Gold Shield Award, and in 1994, in honor of Nelson Mandela, the Patron-in-Chief of the organisation, the name changed to its current form.
The President’s Award programme has grown into one of the largest programmes on offer at St Andrew’s. In 2010, almost 80% of the school is enrolled in the programme. This has translated into a huge demand for activities where the boys can complete the service requirements of the programme. On a weekly basis anything from fifteen to fifty boys may be involved in some voluntary service activity. The programme has inspired boys such as Ross McCreath to initiate service projects in their own communities and more and more boys are volunteering their time in the holidays to service.
We are fortunate at a school like St Andrew’s College that the other three components for the Award programme are easily catered for in the extra-mural programme and so by taking full advantage of what is on offer at the school, many boys are able to meet the requirements for Physical Recreation, Skills and Adventure. However, we do have an increasing number of boys moving through the Awards levels from Bronze to Gold and there is no doubt that it takes good time management and dedication to fulfill the requirements at Silver and Gold Level.
Two of our Gold Award participants, Greg Were and Tom Niven, played an active role at the 25th Anniversary National Youth Forum in 2008 which was hosted at St Andrew’s College and another two formed part of a South African delegation to participate in an Award Exchange programme to the Czech Republic in 2009, which included Award participants from Israel. Keith Scott and Daniel Still both received praise for the way in which they contributed to the success of the programme.
Activities at St Andrew’s are driven by a committee led by the School Community Engagement Portfolio prefect that consists of representatives from each House at both junior and senior level. These boys are encouraged to play a lead role in motivating and inspiring the rest of the school.
Ross McCreath, a 16 year old Gold Award participant from Bathurst, in the Eastern Cape, received a standing ovation after he addressed an audience of 180 guests on 2 March in the Long Room of Lord's Cricket Ground, the "home of cricket", London.
Photograph supplied by the International Award Association World Fellowship
The guests included His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, Founder of the International Award for Young People, which is known as the President's Award for Youth Empowerment in South Africa, who said in his speech how impressed he was with Ross's achievements in founding the Tiger Titans - a cricket team in Bathurst's Nolukhanyo Township.
The Award and Sport was the theme of the evening and how involvement in sport can positively change a change person's life and be a valuable tool for individual and community development.
In addition to Ross McCreath and His Royal Highness, the evening was also attended by iconic cricketers such as Mike Gatting OBE; Derek Underwood MBE; Mark Ramprakash; Rob Key and Angus Fraser, Steve Finn, amongst others as well as distinguished guests from the World Fellowship, which exists to support the global development of the International Award Programme.
Earlier in the day, Ross spent some time with Mike Gatting at Lord's talking about the Award and with Mike giving Ross some tips on the gentleman's game.
The following day, Ross visited the office of His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace for tea and he attended the offices of the Commonwealth Youth Programme, with His Royal Highness The Earl of Wessex, Prince Edward, himself a Gold Award holder and International Trustee of the International Award Association.
Ross became involved in this exciting social innovation project as part of his participation in The President's Award for Youth Empowerment Programme. He has achieved the Bronze and Silver Levels of this international youth development programme and is currently actively involved at the Gold Level.
Ross, through his continued involvement with the Award Programme at the Gold Level, has extended his project by developing a soccer team in the same township near Bathurst which is strongly aligned with the country's focus for 2010 - the 2010 FIFA World Cup to be played in South Africa later this year.
See the story published on Daily Dispatch Online 5 March 2010:
http://www.dispatch.co.za/article.aspx?id=385177
Ross McCreath's interview with Carte Blanche was aired on Sunday 21 March 2010.
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