It was a special day for Benalla P-12 College student Erin Jenkins, who was not only named Young Citizen of the Year 2023, but also got to share the BPACC stage with her mum, Benalla Citizen of the Year 2022, Lee Manning.
Erin is an inspiration to her friends, fellow students, and all young people, encouraging everyone to have a go and be the best they can be.
She said she was a bit nervous about getting up on stage in front of the audience at BPACC.
“But when I was up there it was okay,” Erin said.
“To win Young Citizen of the year feels amazing, I’m honoured.
“Sharing the stage with mum was a bit weird, but it was nice.”
She said next year she would think about nominating another deserving young person for the award.
At Benalla P-12 College, Erin has been a campus leader and proved a great inspiration in assisting at the time of the pandemic in helping students to transition back to school to a new normal including running assemblies via video-link as well as duties as house captain.
She is an outstanding student who has demonstrated excellent academic achievements, school representation and student leadership.
In 2021 Erin was alerted to a post-Covid-19 funding opportunity and developed a project to encourage all 145 students at her school campus to get outside, be more active and increase wellbeing and was a driving force in making this happen.
A scholarship application that Erin wrote about herself and what her school’s values mean to her is a fantastic summary of her personal values and achievements finding that lots of the values were linked together.
These are, high expectations and integrity, which she shows by setting high goals for yourself; respect and responsibility, which she embodies by looking after people and their equipment; and integrity and responsibility, which she follows by never giving up and doing tasks properly.
Outside of school Erin has been a member of the Benalla Girl Guides since 2018, participating in Australia Day and Anzac Day ceremonies, fundraising and other events.
Erin has assisted the youngest members of the Benalla Hockey Club for a number of years and has stepped up to coach seven to nine-year-olds for some HookIn2 hockey sessions.
She also plays regional competition hockey. She is patient and caring with young or new players, supportive of her teammates and has a great respect for coaches and umpires.
Erin is positive and fun to be around and a great role model for junior players.
She is involved in acrobatic classes and is supportive and encouraging of other students in her class.
Most important of all Erin has an amazing community spirit, encouragement of others, personal resilience and positive attitude.
Congratulations from everyone at The Ensign.