Athlone young people honoured at Garda Youth Awards event
By Rebekah O'Reilly
Young people from Athlone were recipients of three Garda Youth Awards in a ceremony held in Mullingar last week.
Athlone's Battery Heights Older Girls Group, under the auspices of Youth Work Ireland Midlands, won the overall award in the group category for their work in their local community.
The Special Achievement award, meanwhile, went to Marist College Athlone student Bodhan Niekrashevych, while a group of students from Our Lady's Bower were among those involved in the Westmeath Comhairle na nÓg group which won the Community Safety Award.
The awards event was organised to celebrate outstanding young people aged between 13 and 21 years, and to recognise the good work they are doing throughout in their local communities.
Speaking at the awards, Cllr Liam McDaniel, Cathaoirleach of Westmeath County Council, said: “These young people have been working together for the common purpose of making a positive contribution to their community. They have undertaken great efforts to show the community what they are capable of.”
The Youth Work Ireland Midlands Athlone Battery Heights Older Girls Group is made up of ten girls: Tanisha Donoghue, Emma Green, Alice Joyce, Lauren Nally, Cassie McCarthy, Megan Flynn Kelly, Hollie Munnelly, Hannah Berry, Cindy Anna Joyce, and Alice Joyce.
Discussing the work the girls have done in their community, youth worker Carrie Lynch, who works closely with the group in Athlone, said: “The girls attend weekly groups in the Battery Heights complex, recently took part in a Healthy Ireland-funded programme, and they completed the Dublin mini marathon.
“The group completed a mural in their area, and also took part in a graffiti project to make their building more inviting. They have also taken part in intergenerational programmes with the women's group, Battery Belles.”
Bodhan Niekrashevych, originally from Ukraine, is a 3rd year student in the Marist College. His teacher, Bláithín Fleming said his kindness and compassion for others was what made him stand out for the Special Achievement Award.
"Bodan is a fantastic student, his work ethic and grades are exemplary," said Ms Fleming. "Not only that, he is such a great help to other Ukrainian students in his year and school with regards to support, help with translation, and in general being so kind. He is a great role model to them and to everyone in our school community."
Unfortunately, Bohdan was not available to collect his award on the night, however Ms Fleming accepted it on his behalf and the Gardai intend to present him with the award at The Marist College in the coming weeks.
Westmeath-based group Comhairle na nÓg were presented with the Community Safety Award from Cllr Liam McDaniel, as a result of their work on road safety.
Our Lady’s Bower students Aya Qaiyas, Sammy Okodugha, Poorvika Vimal-Raj, Miracle Ikwuagwu, Jessica Gica, Elizabeth Shobiyi and Aamani Kadupu are part of the group of 30 Westmeath young people who are involved in Comhairle na nÓg.
Throughout last year, the group planned and organised a road safety event, which was attended by over 1,500 students from Westmeath.
They worked closely alongside an Garda Síochána, National Ambulance Service, Traffic Corps, Road Safety Authority, Westmeath County Council and Youth Work Ireland to organise the event, which included guest speakers, a crash scene and an information village aimed at teaching young drivers to be safe on the road.
Speaking about the group's dedication, Westmeath Comhairle na nÓg Co-Ordinator Edwina Farrell said: "It's a group of around 30 young people. It's voluntary, so they join it of their own accord, and they do a two year term. These guys are on their second year and they're hosting their second annual road safety event in a couple of weeks. They're very dedicated.
"They've built up massive relationships with all of the organisations in the area - the guards, the fire service, the national ambulance service - and they've [given] a lot of support to a lot of those services."