The Myall Lakes Community Awards acknowledges people who have given outstanding service and leadership to their local communities.
This year, St Clare’s nominated three of its students for the awards including:
- Eamon Smith – Sports Person of the Year
- Teisha Farr – Cultural Award
- Nicholas Parsons – Young Person of the Year
Nicholas was awarded Young Person of the Year because of his continual commitment to active citizenry and willingness to work hard on behalf of those around him.
For the past eight years Nicholas has been heavily involved in various community group and school activities across the Manning region. Most of this has involved voluntary work and an ongoing commitment to providing a valuable service in the community and at school.
Nicholas’ amazing musical talent as part of the school band has been shared without reserve and his encouragement of others in both school and the wider community activities has been faultless. He volunteers his time for the Great Lakes Concert and Jazz community bands and for the last four years Nicholas has been the head of the Trumpet section.
Nicholas has also been volunteering as the Bugler of the Last Post and Reveille in ANZAC and other commemoration ceremonies, both for the Forster-Tuncurry and Taree communities and the St Clare’s and Holy Name communities. He has also performed the Last Post at funerals of veterans in the Forster – Tuncurry community and has volunteered as the lead trumpet player for the Sinfonia Mid-North Coast Orchestra.
Since 2014 Nicholas has been teaching primary and high school students on weekday afternoons how to play the trumpet and drums. This includes preparing them for Eisteddfods and Australian Music Examination Board (AMEB) examinations and other performances they may have within their school community.
He is a very quiet and unassuming young man and it is wonderful to see his tireless efforts across the school and the wider community recognised in some way.
