Gaisce Award

What is Gaisce?

Gaisce – The President’s Award is a self-development programme for young people aged 14-25. It is a direct challenge from the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, to all young people to dream big and realise their potential.

The Award is a self-directed personal development programme in which participants are supported and mentored by a more experienced person, a volunteer, a President’s Award Leader (PAL), to set and achieve a personal challenge over a period of time.

Gaisce is an old Irish word which means ‘a great achievement’ and it is in the spirit of this meaning that the programme challenges young people to set and pursue personal goals in four different areas of activity:

Community Involvement
Personal Skills
Physical Recreation
Adventure Journey

There are 3 levels to the Award programme, starting with Bronze and progressing to Silver or Gold with the time and maturity required, increasing as the participant moves from Bronze towards the Gold Award. The minimum period to complete the Bronze Award is 26 weeks and for Gold this increases to 78 weeks.

1. Community Involvement

Community Involvement is all about making a difference to other people’s lives. Everyone is unique and has something they can contribute to make their community a better place. It feels good to help, its fun, and you often make new friends too!

2. Personal Skill

Personal Skill gives you the change to develop a new skill or interests. Working on a particular skill helps to boost your self esteem, develop other practical and social skills, and learn how to set and rise to a challenge.

3. Physical Recreation

Physical Recreation is about becoming physically stronger and improving fitness. Getting moving is a sure way to make you feel healthier, think better, and live longer. You don’t need to be super fit or have participated in any physical activity before — just try it out!

4. Adventure Journey

Plan, prepare and undertake an Adventure Journey over a number of days and nights in a group as part of an expedition or exploration journey. Not only is the trip incredibly fun, it’s a great way of spending time with friends

GAISCE

2023 - 2024

During the 2023 - 2024 academic year a team of third year students participated in and achieved the Bronze award.

The team of Gaisce participants included:

DJ Liddane
Kate O’ Mara
Hannah Connolly
Sinéad McNamara
Clodagh Keane
Emma Geary
Emma Robertson
Róisín Kett
Brian Lynch
James O’Meara
Saoirse O’ Connor

Below they share some of their memories and highlights from their journey -

When our school was thinking about taking part in this Gaisce programme, we thought about the many reasons why we would love to take part, such as a sense of achievement and fulfilment. We also, loved the thought of working individually but as part of a team as well throughout the journey as it gave us motivation.

To complete the 25km challenge and stay overnight, we brainstormed and came up with creative solutions to overcome the obstacles of our rural location. We organised two fundraisers, a non-uniform day and a bake sale at school, raising €350. With this money, we registered for our awards and bought food for our overnight stay.

We began our Gaisce Adventure Journey with a coastal walk after school, prepared and cooked dinner in the home economics room, set up bedding, and made our own breakfast the next morning. We then embarked on a loop cycle together, helping each other along the way. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

We believe we have fully demonstrated our personal goals in the four challenge areas: community involvement, personal skills, physical recreation, and the adventure journey. Since last September, we have shown determination, resilience, dedication, and camaraderie.

Keywords: Extra-Curricular

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