The President’s Award is an achievement earned by young people in Ireland between the ages of 15 and 25 for participating in several activities over a certain period of time. There are three awards: bronze, silver and gold.
Gaisce is focused on and driven by the following core values: Empowerment, Inclusion & Equality, Respect and Excellence.
Students have the opportunity to take part in achieving silver and bronze while at Finn Valley College. By getting involved in Gaisce, students take on exciting personal, physical and community challenges and develop new skills and friendships.
Ms Treanor and Ms Collum support students with the various aspects of achieving their bronze, silver and gold medals.
Student Voice “The Benefits of being part of Gaisce” by Mollie Mc Auley
“The Gaisce Award is Ireland’s National Youth Award and is designed to challenge those that participate in three different areas.
I really enjoyed my time as I completed my Bronze Award as all my hobbies, interests and work all went towards me achieving my award.
Participating in Gaisce allowed me to interact with different people and learn new experiences.
The excursions were great fun and we got to spend time with students of all ages and from all year groups and also we got to get to know school staff that we didn’t really know in school. Everyone mixes very well.
I feel that I have developed leadership and organisational skills throughout the whole experience. I also feel that personally I have grown in confidence.
I would definitely recommend Gaisce to other students.“
Student Voice…”Why get involved in Gaisce?” by Nicole McGhee
This year I completed my Bronze Gaisce Award. I had to do 13 weeks each in developing a skill, community involvement, a physical activity and an extra 13 weeks of an extra activity.
For my skill I did horse riding and I was actively involved in the school show for my community participation and I completed 13 weeks of walking for my physical skill. To complete my 13 extra weeks I baked every week.
I really enjoyed participating in and completing this Award as I got to meet and talk to new people that I normally wouldn’t usually get to talk to. This helped me open up my circle to younger students that I wouldn’t usually have any interaction with.
On our Adventure trip to Gartan for two days and one overnight I got to speak to and get to know teachers and staff from our school that I normally wouldn’t get to see too often.
Gaisce is a great experience to do fun activities and meet new people and I would highly recommend it.
