Two current students and seven Old Collegians were among a group of 46 young people to be presented with Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Gold Awards in a special ceremony at the St Andrew’s College Centennial Chapel on Sunday 11 October.

James Holyoake and Grace Donaldson (both Year 13), Lewis Edmond, Frankie Morrow, Zoe Brunton, Angus Loader, Jordan Welsford (all OC 2019), Laurence Arundell and Kaitlin Watson (OC 2018), accepted their awards in front of around 150 guests, including the Governor General Rt Hon Dame Patsy Reddy.

Others in the official party included Ken Hames (National Chair) and Karen Ross (National Director) of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Aotearoa New Zealand Hillary Award, and Sir Edmund Hillary’s son, Peter Hillary, who presented the awards.

St Andrew’s College student and Gold Award winner, James Holyoake (Year 13), gave a brief speech of thanks on behalf of the recipients, and entertained the audience with stories about his unicycle adventures. Other St Andrew’s College students to have a role on this prestigious occasion were piper, Campbell Wilson (Year 13) and pianist, Samuel Foote (Year 12).

Head of Values and Culture, Hamish Bell, who co-ordinates the Duke of Edinburgh programme, was thrilled that many of the recent Old Collegians who had completed their Gold Award, returned to St Andrew’s College to be acknowledged at the official national ceremony. “It is a huge honour for these students and their families to join others from around the country who have also achieved at the highest level. It was also a great chance to reflect on what each individual had achieved. A number of the St Andrew’s College students reflected that their highlight was sea kayaking the Abel Tasman, while others enjoyed giving back to their community through community service.”

In November, Lucy Cammock-Elliott, Rory Dephoff, Hannah Dickson,  Genevieve Henstock, Annabelle Jones, Pippa McAnergney, Libby McKinnel, Kelly Ting, Emily Whitnall and Benjamin Wilson (all Year 13) also completed their Duke of Edinburgh's Hillary Gold Awards, and will be recognised at Prizegiving.