IT was a golden night for three young people from the Okehampton area who were awarded their Duke of Edinburgh Gold Awards last Saturday. Jenny Rice, a former student at Okehampton College, completed her award over the course of around three years. She spent seven months of her gap year in Uganda working in a primary school, which she utilised as the residential component of her award. Jenny also went swimming with Okehampton Otters and taught lifeguarding to the young Otters. Her expedition was a trip with five others to the Kerry Mountains in Ireland and she also learnt painting and design skills. Jenny, 21, from Bratton Clovelly, is currently studying for an arts foundation course at university in Cardiff. She said: 'I finished it all a while ago now, but when I first came back from Uganda, everybody was really interested to hear what it was like. I would recommend doing the Duke of Edinburgh Award to anyone.' Jonathan Stephens is still a student at Okehampton College and his pursuit of the award took him to South Africa to work on a community scheme called the Joshua Project. He also carried out conservation work in the Baviaanskloof area. Jonathan, 18, was one of six young people from Okehampton who travelled to South Africa last summer. Jonathan's work with The Joshua Project involved maintenance work at the project's shelter, which provided a roof and basic education for children who were homeless. Jonathan, who lives in Hatherleigh, is currently studying for his A-levels and has been accepted for a place on a civil engineering course at Loughborough University, pending exam results. Other activities Jonathan completed to obtain his gold awards included playing hockey for Okehampton, taking part in the Young Enterprise initiative and helping out with a local church youth club for five to 13-year-olds. Jonathan said: 'It was an amazing experience. It has given me lots of confidence and it has opened my eyes up to how people in other countries live'. Jonathan said one of the highlights of the trip had come on the week sightseeing when the youngsters had taken part in what is claimed to be the 'highest bungee jump in the world'. On March 28, Jonathan will be travelling to St James Palace to officially collect his gold award from the Duke himself. A certificate was also awarded last week to Leah Bourne, who was part of the Okehampton Award Challenge Centre team that travelled to South Africa. Leah's certificate was collected by her sister on her behalf, because she is currently in Australia. Fifty awards in total were presented by the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Devon Sir John Evans at a presentation evening held at County Hall in Exeter on Saturday evening. 2006 was the 50th anniversary of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and a commemorative Turkish hazel tree has been planted in the grounds of County Hall. The Duke of Edinburgh Award is open to young people aged between 14 and 25, and aims to provide an enjoyable, challenging and rewarding programme of personal development. The young people set their own goals and have to cover five different areas of achievement —service, skills, physical recreation, expedition and residential experience.
