Jacqueline Keppel and Chantelle Walmbeng in high spirits on the adventure journey component of the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award. Photo: Supplied.
Youth leadership in Aurukun and Napranum has been boosted after four young trekkers completed the adventure journey component of their Duke of Edinburgh (DoE) Bronze Award.
The DoE aims to provide Australians aged 14-24 years with the opportunity to uncover their purpose, passion and place in the world.
The three levels, bronze, silver and gold, each consist of four components: physical recreation, skills, voluntary service and adventurous journey. Gold award participants are also required to take on the Gold Residential Project.
Aurukun police liaison officers (PLO) and PCYC youth leaders Chantelle Walmbeng and Jacqueline Keppel completed the journey in Yeppoon with blistered feet and high spirits.
Each day, the pair made breakfast, packed their backpacks and hiked about five to seven kilometres.
At the end of each day, they set up their tent, cooked dinner on the small gas cookers and sat around the fire yarning before resting.
Ms Walmbeng and Ms Keppel started their DoE journeys in 2023 through the PCYC.
With the adventure journey now complete, Ms Walmbeng has fulfilled the necessary hours to receive her DoE Bronze Award in Brisbane on 6 November. Ms Keppel is following closely behind with just a few hours remaining in the physical recreation and skills components.
PCYC Aurukun manager Sergeant Steve Armstrong-Ravula said the DoE had helped both young women develop their leadership skills in the community.
“The last few years, I have watched them both excel in a lot of different ways with their leadership – the Duke of Edinburgh is just one of many areas they have put their focus into,” he said.
“The main thing is for youth to be busy, and hopefully busy doing things that are giving them qualifications or benefitting their life in good ways.”
Two young men from PCYC Napranum’s youth leadership team also completed the adventure journey in Bornhoffen on the Gold Coast, inspiring their peers as two of the first to do so.
“Troy [Hudson] and Maurice [Brumby] are the first bronze award participants to complete their adventurous journey with Napranum PCYC and have proven how successful the Duke of Edinburgh framework is for personal development,” PCYC Napranum Youth Club officer Emma Wallis said.
“As role models, Troy and Maurice have demonstrated to the younger generation what is possible, helping others to believe they can do it too.”
