Six Wycliffe College pupils recently visited Buckingham Palace to collect their Gold Duke of Edinburgh Awards.
Tillie Graham, Iona Lundie, Isla Green, Lowri Clarke, Emma Livingstone and Victoria Bogachenkova, all in Year 13, form part of the youngest and largest Wycliffe group ever to achieve this level.
Each of them said the hardest part of the awards was the expedition during Storm Brian in October 2017.
Kate Elliott, DofE co-ordinator at Wycliffe, said: “We expected some students to give up after a day of driving rain in which they were obliged to wade thigh-high through rivers of water and mud and slide down cascading torrents which had appeared on the hillsides overnight.
“However, instead, on reaching the farmer’s field (equipped in its facilities with just an outside tap and a dingy mobile cabin box toilet) they gritted their teeth and got on with the business of setting up camp, cold, and in their sodden wet clothes and boots. It was an impressive sight.”
The girls put their perseverance to friendship. Tillie said: “The expedition was the hardest part because the weather was horrendous. We didn’t give up and that’s because we are all friends and we supported each other.”
Isla Green, who hopes to study Medicine in the Autumn, volunteered weekly for a year at The Elms Elderly Home in Stonehouse as part of her DofE Award: “I learnt the most from my volunteering as I learned to understand what different people go through and it has helped me understand the people I will work with as a doctor.”
Mr Nick Gregory, Head of Wycliffe College in Gloucestershire, said: “We are of course incredibly proud of these girls for this specific achievement.
“However, what makes it even more noteworthy is the range of other accomplishments across this group during their time at Wycliffe (for some more than 10 years): Grade 8 Music, places at top Universities next year to read Medicine, Veterinary Science, English Literature etc., senior members of our Prefect team, members of an unbeaten 1st VII Netball team, international triathlete selection to name just a few.
“They have all relished the challenge of being busy in a number of different areas and performing to a high standard in everything that they have done.”