Young Achievers
Young Achievement Award
“Act as if what you do makes a difference… It does.” - William James
We believe all our residents here in Selwyn are achievers. However, there are those that go above and beyond the norm of achieving, and particularly when that effort comes from our younger residents, it is worth recognising. Our hope is that our Young Achievers Award goes a small way towards showing our gratitude and respect for our winners.
Paige Sullivan, who won the Young Achievers Award in 2021, actively makes a difference in our community. She has been involved in the community and voluntary sector for over 10 years, all beginning with her volunteering with the Rotary Club of Lincoln at just 11 years old! I’m sure most of us would agree that at 11 years old we might not have been as generous with our time in terms of volunteering, so we take our hat off to Paige for being so forward thinking from such a young age.
Paige has held numerous positions within the Rotary Club, including the bulletin editor and she is now holding the position of President of the Club. No small feat when you consider the fact that she is youngest President the Club has ever appointed! And it doesn’t stop there, Paige is also that Trustee of 298 Youth Health Centre and is the youngest and only South Island Board Member of the Ministry of Youth Development Partnership Fund Board.
Those are some seriously impressive achievements.
When we spoke to Paige, she spoke highly of the Rotary Club, saying that she holds it very dear to her heart, as well as its 65 members who are always trying to make the differences we need in our community.
One of the driving forces behind Paige applying for the Young Achievers Award was to show that anyone can be involved in community service, no matter their age. A true inspiration for our young community members.
Winning the award for Paige meant a lot to her, just as her work means a lot to us. It is one of the reasons we hold the Selwyn Awards, to let people like Paige know just how grateful we are for the work that she does.
“Winning the award was an absolute honour. I have come across many barriers in the work I do and being acknowledged (and sharing the word about the organisations I am involved in, more importantly) was really empowering to keep going.” - Paige Sullivan
Paige has felt that the award was amazing for the club in terms of publicity and reputation. It shone a light on the good it does. She feels the award gave the Rotary Club a platform to be able to reach out to new members and show how anyone can be a part of it.
We can’t wait to see what else Paige achieves in her life, and we are extremely excited to see what our 2022 young achiever applicants have been up to.