"Superheroes" win Red Cross award
SIX of our girls are “superheroes” after winning a prestigious British Red Cross award in London.
The girls won the Community Action category in the Red Cross’s annual Humanitarian Citizen Awards at the weekend.
The awards celebrate the contribution that young individuals and groups make to the lives of others. The inspiring finalists, all aged 25 and under, gathered at the award ceremony at the capital’s Bishopsgate Institute.
The award categories – for first aid, community action, volunteering and fundraising – recognise the many different ways in which young people can make a difference.
This year, there were one hundred and six entries from around the country which were whittled down to a shortlist of thirty-four.
The Kilgraston girls – Sophie Aird, Phoebe Choi, Ruth Faherty, Phoebe Reilly, Ola Tkacz and Anna Wylie - formed The Kilgraston Action Group for their International Humanitarian Law and Child Soldiers Action Project.
The 13 and 14-year-olds set up the group after learning about International Humanitarian Law and child soldiers in their Social Studies class. Their year group hosted Red Hand Day in school and delivered an assembly, gathered hand prints, wrote letters to politicians and ran a peer education session.
Their teacher, Ms Alisa King, said: “I am very proud of the girls and they are a credit to the school. They are so committed to the project and responsible and thoughtful in their actions.
“Winning their category was a wonderful surprise. I had nominated them for all their hard work and am delighted for them.
“The stories of the other nominees in all the categories were amazing and in many cases heart-rending. Nominations are taken from all areas of humanitarian work, not just that carried out on behalf of the Red Cross. In many cases there were acts of outstanding individual courage and compassion.”
Gary Mountain, British Red Cross Accreditation and Recognition Co-ordinator for Young People, said: “There was a fantastic selection of entries this year – all of them young people who have really made a difference in others’ lives.
“All those who attended this year’s award ceremony were touched in some way by these inspiring young superheroes. It shows how young people can truly make a difference and have a huge impact in their own communities and beyond.”
The girls have entered their project in a second contest - the British Red Cross Justice and Fairness Competition and have made it through to the final five teams. They will travel to London again in November to present their project to the judges and participate in a rigorous question and answer session.
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