Two years of hard work by Oamaru teenager Sheryl McLennan culminated in the presentation of a Girls Brigade Queen's Award in Wellington this month.
Miss McLennan (17) was one of 11 young women from throughout New Zealand to receive her Queen's Award certificate from Susan Satyanand, wife of Governor-General Anand Satyanand.
The Queen's Award is a two-year programme which includes six months' voluntary community service, brigade and church involvement.
Participants also undertake two initiative tasks, an assignment and attend a national assessment weekend.
The international award is open to young women aged between 15 and 25, and recognises qualities of leadership, dedication and excellence in areas of community life.
Miss McLennan, a member of the 2nd Oamaru Girls Brigade, joined the organisation just before she turned 6, after her mother saw an advertisement in the newspaper and thought it would be good for her to go along.
She had made "heaps" of friends, met people from around the country, learned about being a good leader and had a lot of fun, she said.
The work for her Queen's Award included preparing a midwinter Christmas dinner for fellow churchgoers, making a wall hanging which now hangs at the Waitaki Community Mental Health Centre, and reading newspapers for the Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind's telephone information service.
Miss McLennan, who completed year 13 at Waitaki Girls High School this year, will head to Niue in two weeks, one of four young New Zealand women to attend a Girls Brigade fonomarae.
Similar to a jamboree, it will be a week of sharing ideas, she said.
She hopes to study occupational therapy in Dunedin next year.
