Narrabri High School student and active member of the local Scouts, Jesse Weekes, has recently been recognised for his efforts with the club.
He was one of around 70 people in NSW to be awarded The Australian Scout Medallion at the Kariong ceremony.
The occasion celebrated both 2020 and 2021 recipients since last year’s event was cancelled due to the pandemic.
North-west NSW was well represented at Kariong, with Jesse from Narrabri and another two students from Armidale, awarded the medallion.
It’s been two years since a Narrabri Scout was awarded the title, and before that a local hadn’t received the medallion in a decade.
Jesse has been involved with the Scouts since he was just six-years-old, when he joined the Narrabri West Joey Mob.
“My older siblings were involved with the club, which encouraged me to join,” he said.
Jesse moved his way up through the ranks, eventually becoming a member of both the Region and State Scout Youth Councils.
He even took on the role of secretary at the state level.
In 2019, Jesse worked at the Australian Jamboree as a patrol leader in South Australia.
He says he’s learnt a lot in the past decade.
“I’ve definitely picked up a lot of skills, and they extend beyond just hands-on and active abilities,” Jesse said.
“The social skills and benefits have also been great.”
To be eligible for The Australian Scout Medallion, Jesse had to plan and execute a leadership activity that makes use of compasses, maps, estimating distances and laying out a camp site.
Since he was set to undertake the activity in March last year, Jesse had to modify it to align with COVID-19 guidelines.
The next event on the club’s calendar is the State Rally later this year, which Jesse is looking forward to.
“I’m just excited to see where Scouts takes me,” he said.
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