President’s Award

The President’s Award is an international award which is based on the Duke of Edinburgh Award. The mission is:

To empower young people by providing a balanced, non-competitive framework for self-development that will increase their self-esteem and enhance their capacity to achieve in whatever context they find themselves enabling them to become responsible active citizens within their communities.

When President Jacob Zuma took over patronage from Nelson Mandela, he quoted Danville gold medallist, Suvarna Indermun:

In the words of Suvarna Indermun from KwaZulu-Natal who achieved her Gold Award on 23rd September 2010:

“You start off unsure, but then you get to know this person you already had inside of you and then you realise that you are nobody but yourself… The President’s Award has taught me to always remain positive and to do the impossible, and then, even when there’s a voice inside me saying ‘You cannot do it’, I go ahead and do it anyway because then the voice is silenced and I have achieved my goal. The Award has pushed me far beyond anything I could ever have imagined myself doing.”

Danville has a large number of girls enrolled, and during the year many complete the bronze and silver levels. We also have several girls enrolled for gold. In 2019 we participated in the World Ready campaign and our video clip was included on the international site. Thanks to Hilton College we can offer our girls a safe and very affordable hike to fulfil the adventurous journey requirement.