A 20 year-old student from Mornington, Alisha O’Donnell, has been awarded a Gaisce Gold Award by President Michael D. Higgins at a ceremony which took in Áras an Uachtaráin on Tuesday.
Alisha was among over 40,000 young people aged 14-25 who answered the President’s call to pursue a Gaisce Award at the height of Covid in 2020-2021 and is one of 79 to have been rewarded for their outstanding commitment to personal development and contribution to society.
President Michael D Higgins presented the Gaisce Gold Awards to each recipient at a ceremony which took place at Áras an Uachtaráin – the first such Ceremony to take place in three years.
The Gaisce Gold Award is the nation’s highest recognition of a young person’s initiative, achievement, and voluntary contribution to society.
Alisha told Drogheda Life that she had already obtained her Bronze and Silver Gaisce Awards while still in secondary School at Colaiste na HInse in Bettystown.
She decided to go for gold a couple of years ago when she started studying for a degree at Marino Institute of Education where she is now in her third year and hopes to go onto become a National School teacher.
In order to complete a Gold Gaisce Award, each of the recipients set and achieved their own goals across challenge areas that include personal skill, physical activity, community involvement, team adventure journey and a residential project.
For the Community Involvement challenge Alisha volunteered with My Lovely Horse Rescue for a year. For Physical Recreation she ran for an hour every day for 52 weeks while her Personal Skill challenge involved baking weekly for a full year.
Speaking about her time at My Lovely Horse Rescue Alisha said: “Can I just add what fantastic people they are! The care, love and compassion that each animal receives when they come through the doors of My Lovely Horse Rescue is just remarkable!
“If I could ever give one piece of advice to anyone, it’s to give some of your spare time back into helping the rescues around the country. It’s certainly not easy to see the horrendous cruelty, neglect and abuse that animals endure in Ireland but when you see the animal pull through and live a happy healthy live surrounded by love, care and such kind people it makes it all so worthwhile.
“It gives you such a wonderful uplifting feeling knowing you did good to help that animal when it needed it the most!
Alisha’s Adventure Journey, started by completing the Drogheda Camino and then she continued walking for four days completing over 80 km’s.
Since its inception, Gaisce has been committed to ensuring the accessibility of the Award, and to ensuring every young person can see themselves in the Award. Gaisce celebrates the innate talents and abilities of all young people in Ireland, regardless of their circumstances.
At the heart of Gaisce is a network of trained adult mentors, the President’s Award Leaders (or PALs) who provide mentorship to young people across a wide variety of organisations including community, education, sport, disability and justice.
Alisha’s PAL was Mary Cleary who operates through The Louth Volunteer Centre who said she was so proud to be involved with Gaisce and of course of Alisha’s achievement.
“Alisha should be very proud of her achievement to complete the award during difficult circumstances” Mary said and sent out an invitation to any other young people who might be interested in trying for a Gaisce award.
“Any young adults (18-25yrs) that would like to pursue Gaisce award can contact Gaisce directly or Louth Volunteer Centre to register.
“It is a fantastic resource that can be availed of though Louth Volunteer Centre” Mary said.
“It provides the young person with an avenue to get involved in their community, promotes the ethos of volunteering and all while they are investing in their personal development. Employers find it very impressive when it is detailed on CV’s.”
The CEO of Gaisce, Yvonne McKenna said, ‘Gaisce – The President’s Award is unique in the sense that it encourages young people to set their own personal development goals within a framework that allows them to achieve them and contribute to their communities in their own way.
“Every single day, I am inspired by the courage, the energy and the commitment of young people doing their Gaisce Award, and I am so thrilled we are getting to celebrate the breath of their achievements, from tackling global challenges like biodiversity to local supports for neighbours in need, young people are consistently push themselves for others.
For further information on Gaisce – The President’s Award, please visit www.gaisce.ie .
