Killybegs girl Rion Breslin is pictured being presented with a Gaisce Gold Award by President Michael D. Higgins for her outstanding community work and significant personal achievements at a special awards ceremony in Dublin Castle.
54 Gaisce Gold Awards were presented to young people who excelled and achieved their goals. DIT student Rion Breslin was among those presented with a Gaisce Gold Medal.
Currently studying Business & Management in DIT Aungier Street, Rion’s Gaisce Gold medal journey is as follows:
For her Community Involvement, Rion volunteered with St Catherine’s Accordion Band. Having been a member of the marching band for 11 years, in addition to playing the glockenspiel and the accordion, Rion’s job was to help out with both marching and music classes. The marching band has travelled to parades in Dublin, Dallas, Seattle and the Rose of Tralee, and Rion helped organise the band’s trip to London for the 2012 St Patrick’s Day Parade. From a very young age, Rion has had a passion for dancing, and so for her Personal Skill, she decided to set a goal of learning three new types of dance: Zumba, Jive and Pole, all of which were taught in her local town. Rion also wanted to maintain her fitness level so she felt that this was the perfect opportunity to complete all aims. She also set up her own dance school, ‘Spotlight’, catering for children under 12, which she ran successfully for three years. For her Physical Recreation, Rion decided to choose walking – an “ excellent way of clearing your mind and maintaining fitness”. The local marching band in Rion’s town started a walking group where each member donates to a selected charity at each walk . One St Stephen’s Day, the group walked and raised over €600 for the Irish Cancer Society. As part of her Adventure Journey, Rion embarked on a 7- day hike of El Camino de Santiago in Spain and covered roughly 20 km to 24 km per day. She found the lack of access to the internet and phones “refreshing”, and says she’ll never forget the sense of achievement when she finally arrived in Santiago. Finally, to complete her Gold Gaisce journey, Rion travelled with four others to the mountains of Talamarang, Nepal for the Residential part of the challenge. Rion volunteered in an orphanage called Little Angels Child Home for five nights, where she stayed in a mud shack, built by the people of Talamarang. Rion, along with a group of other volunteers, helped to prepare meals, plant crops, weed gardens, wash clothes and feed goats, and helped the children with their homework. Rion hopes to return to Nepal in the future and visit the Little Angels Home again.
Superb!
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