{"id":9752,"date":"2022-12-01T10:44:02","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T23:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/sceggs\/?post_type=article&p=9752"},"modified":"2022-12-01T10:44:02","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T23:44:02","slug":"duke-of-edinburgh-award","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/sceggs\/article\/duke-of-edinburgh-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Duke of Edinburgh Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wrapping up Another Twelve Months and Sending Them Off to Archives<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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\u201cReturning home is the most difficult part of long-distance hiking. You have grown outside the puzzle and your piece no longer fits.\u201d \u2013 Cindy Ross<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Here we are again, approaching the end of another very eventful year. Sometimes we pause, and ask ourselves, how did we manage to get all those hikes completed – with so many students involved – whilst juggling the interruptions of exam weeks, holidays, sport, excursions, bad weather, closed National Parks, train strikes \u2013 and weariness? How could we have actually planned, organised, customized and implemented eighteen hikes, providing for around one hundred and fifty Award candidates? Did we really tramp about six hundred kilometres along bush tracks, hauling backpacks, through rain and heat, up-hill and down-stream, this year?<\/p>\n

There are probably several parts to that answer, but one is that it couldn\u2019t happen without the enthusiasm, amenability, organisation and maturity of our students, who are always ready to shoulder a challenge and overcome an obstacle. \u00a0Similarly, the support of the school \u2013 especially fellow staff, the back-office and the Executive \u2013 has created an environment where the students can embark on adventures with confidence, safety, joyfulness and energy. Of course, we also acknowledge the unseen work of unthanked parents who provide structure, motivate, reassure and reward their teenagers, patiently supportive and loving without threshold.<\/p>\n

Yet another contributing factor is the Australian natural environment – \u201cAn opal-hearted country, a wilful, lavish land \u2013\u201c as Dorothea McKellar said \u2013 our pupils respond to its unique beauty and mysteries with delight and thoughtfullness. We are fortunate to live so close to vast National Parks and wild places, where we can refresh in a picture-perfect swimming hole, and retreat to a bucolic campsite. Sometimes, it\u2019s not a bad job.<\/p>\n

So, with all those things on side, we\u2019ve overcome disease, flood, tempest and fickle luck. Hopefully, next year we\u2019ll roll through it all over again, enjoying the company, humour and aptitude of our young hikers, and perhaps avoiding the excesses of lockdowns, \u201cweather events\u201d and fractured routines. We long for a return to a \u201cnormal\u201d year, where we can plan expeditions and just get on with them. We\u2019re very much hoping this weekend\u2019s hike will go smoothly, and trust that the Blue Mountains will reward us with wondrous revelations.<\/p>\n

A reminder that every Spring we produce a short video highlighting the past year\u2019s Expeditions, which can be viewed (with a student login) at:<\/p>\n

D of E video presentation 2022<\/a><\/p>\n

It gives a small insight into the nature of the hikes, and a recap of some experiences of this year\u2019s graduating class.<\/p>\n

Finally, we urge all the candidates to maintain the effort with their Skill, Service and Recreation components, and to be aware that if they have questions or problems Ms Bower will be diligently checking her emails right through the holidays. Often these months can provide opportunities to start or recommence building hours in your Online Record Book.<\/p>\n

We wish you all a wonderful break over the summer, and trust you have safe travels, and perhaps some marvellous experiences somewhere out there in our wide, brown land.<\/p>\n