Mosgiel Guides members Amira Johnson and Amelia Williamson recently received the Girl Guiding New Zealand Aoraki Award, the highest honour available to girls aged 9 to 12.
Named after New Zealand’s highest mountain, Aoraki/Mt Cook, the award represents the peak of achievement and adventure for a Girl Guide.
To earn the award, the pair spent several years ticking off badge requirements, including community tree-planting, conservation projects, crafts, outdoor adventures such as geocaching, water-quality testing in a local stream, rock climbing and abseiling.
They also developed their leadership skills by planning, shopping for and running their own camp for 24 hours.
Having achieved the award, both have moved on to Mosgiel Rangers, the section for girls aged 12 to 17.
They already have their sights set on the Queen’s Guide Award
— the highest honour in Commonwealth Girl Guiding.
Amelia said she loved meeting new people, trying a range of activities and learning new skills at camps.
One of the hardest parts of earning the award was running a camp for 24 hours.
‘‘I was extremely nervous to run it and sometimes I don’t enjoy camping in tents so I was a bit worried, but I believed in myself to overcome this fear.’’
One of the most enjoyable activities was attending a regional Magic Guide camp.
‘‘It was really fun and we got to do lots of activities like the games, the sorting hat and we got to hang out with our friends and meet new people from Central Otago and Southland and other guide units in Dunedin.’’
Amira said she was proud to earn the Aoraki award because it demanded a lot of effort.
‘‘I felt like I deserved it.’’
Her favourite parts of Guides were picking up useful life skills, cooking sessions, connecting with others, making new friends and socialising.
Like Amelia, she found organising a 24-hour camp to be a stressful challenge.
‘‘But I got through it by thinking of the reward afterwards and how fun it was going to be.’’
One of her favourite achievements was the cooking badge.
‘‘We got to learn lots of different recipes and eat yummy food.’’
Mosgiel Guides leaders Hilary Smith, Erin Winder and Georgia McCreath said they were proud of Amira and Amelia for their hard work that led to achieving the Aoraki award.
The pair were the first Mosgiel Guides to complete their Aoraki awards because the group faced challenges around completing the tasks, such as the Guide-led camp during Covid-19 lockdowns.
It was very exciting to celebrate such an achievement for both girls, the leaders said.
Mosgiel Guides and Rangers leader Catherine van der Hulst said both girls had put a tremendous amount of effort into their Guiding journey so far.
‘‘I am incredibly proud of them both for their determination, dedication and how much they have grown as leaders and young women over their time at Guides.’’
Mosgiel Guides and Mosgiel Rangers meet on Wednesday evenings at the Silverstream School Hall. For more details, visit girlguidingnz.org.nz and search for Mosgiel.
