Silver awards were presented to Year 12s Giles Dewing, Simon Wood and Adam Ellis and bronze awards were presented to Year 11s Michael ‘t Hart, Riley Skevington, Jack Collett, Steven Burke and George Ford. All awards covered the four components of physical recreation, skill, service and expedition.

DOE is an international challenging programme of leisure-time activities which will help the boys to learn new skills, help others and experience adventure. While it gives a great sense of achievement, it’s also prestigious and valued by a range of influential people, organisations and employers.

The DOE program was first introduced in the United Kingdom in 1956 as The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. The aim was to motivate boys aged between 15 and 18 to become involved in a balanced program of voluntary self-development activities to take them through the potentially difficult period between adolescence and adulthood. It now reaches young people aged 18 to 25 in more than 120 countries.

As highlighted by gold award enrollee Emerson Levents (pictured with DOE awardees and DOE Australia CEO Dame Monica Holmes) at assembly, many of the activities undertaken by Christ Church boys on a day-to-day basis can be counted towards the Award, “so why not be awarded for what you’re already doing”. These everyday activities could include sport, music, art and community service.

For Emerson, who left Willetton Senior High School in 2006 with his silver award, DOE has already proved to be a vehicle for success.  He believes it was his involvement in the DOE that allowed him to stand out amongst 2500 applicants for an apprenticeship with Woodside.

Straight out of school, “with no industry experience but with a pocket full of motivation”, Emerson was one of 16 applicants chosen for the apprenticeship. To put it in perspective, another successful applicant was 26 and had two university degrees and another was 38 with 16 years industry experience.

Emerson said aside from this foot in the door to a lucrative career, DOE had allowed him to have a lot of fun, make many friends, develop many skills, become a professional musician, as well as a scuba diver, sailor and body builder, and open his eyes to the many opportunities available to him.

At Christ Church about 25 boys are actively involved in the DOE Award and, with all Year 10 students encouraged to enrol in the bronze award, DOE Co-ordinator Ken Allen said he hoped to see numbers increase. “For Christ Church students the DOE Award allows their co-curricular programme to count towards the Award,” Mr Allen explained.

“One stipulation of the award criteria is that the four components are completed outside normal school hours. This means curricular time, and co-curricular activities such as sport, school clubs, Friday activities and Venture can all be counted.

“Given the nature of the comprehensive co-curricular programme at Christ Church, many boys will be able to complete the majority of the bronze award through their involvement in the normal programme. The areas of service and skills are the major areas where students will need to seek out opportunities both within the School and wider community.”

Anyone with any questions about the Duke of Edinburgh Award should contact Ken Allen on 9442 1582 or email kallen@ccgs.wa.edu.au