Are you aged 15 to 25? Do you know that instrumental or vocal study at the school qualifies as the ‘personal skill’ requirement of Gaisce - The President's Award?
What is Gaisce?
Gaisce - The President’s Award is Ireland’s National Challenge Award, the country’s most prestigious and respected individual award programme for young people aged 15 to 25.
What’s it all about?
Gaisce - the President’s Award works on the basis of a personal challenge set by you. You will set the challenge and agree it with a President’s Award leader. You won’t be competing with other participants, as each challenge is completely individual - so the only person you’ll compete with is yourself.
How does it work?
There are three types of award that you can earn – Bronze, Silver and Gold – and four different challenge areas. To earn an award, you will need to participate in each of the four challenge areas. You can build on an activity (such as music study) that you’re already involved in, but each participant must take up at least one new activity to earn an award.
The challenge areas are:
- Community Involvement
- Personal Skill
- Physical Recreation
- Adventure Journey
An additional Residential Project is required for the Gold Award.
The minimum requirement in each of the first three challenge areas is 13 weeks x 1 hour/week for a Bronze Award, 26 weeks x 1 hour/week for a Silver Award and 52 weeks x 1 hour/week for a Gold Award. According to the Gaisce organisers, the 1 hour/week requirement can be fulfilled by a 30-minute lesson and at least 30 minutes of practice at home. However, ideally we would recommend more practice than this for the student to make real progress.
For more information, go to Gaisce – The President’s Award website.
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