By BRIDGET COOK
A DANDENONG student was presented with an award by the Governor of Victoria for a golden effort last week.
Nossal High School student Dinesh Arulprakasam, 17, received the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award from Governor of Victoria Alex Chernov at Government House on Wednesday 11 December.
The awards are the world’s leading achievement award for young people.
Gold awardees are required to spend more than 10,000 hours in activities they have chosen themselves in the areas of physical recreation, skill, service, adventurous journey and a residential project.
Dinesh said achieving the award taught him many great skills.
“By completing my Duke of Ed Award, I have developed communicative skills, self-endurance and tolerance which will help me accomplish great things in life,” he said.
One of the major activities he was involved in was volunteering his time in 2012 to help out at a primary school in Ecuador.
Dinesh was one of 15 students who participated in the expedition which took 20 months of careful planning and preparation.
“This process involved a lot of fund-raising, training in outdoor living as well as researching and planning our own itinerary for the full four week expedition,” he said.
“Our project was helping out a local primary school called Neuva Esperanzo where we had the task of cleaning and repainting the schools buildings.
“We also helped out in the classrooms by getting involved in activities and teaching English to the younger students.
“My biggest highlight was painting a mural in the prep room.
“We spent more than 10 hours straight working from morning till dark and it paid off the next morning when the kids saw and were very happy.”
The Ecuador expedition took place from November to December 2012 and since then Dinesh has been working towards achieving other areas of his award.
Dinesh also took part in a leadership program through Australian air force cadets and developed skills in tennis.
