“It gave me a sense of self pride and achievement.”
Gaisce Gold Awardee Jack Doyle achieved his Gold Award in 2019 with Pobail Scoil Neasáin, Dublin.
As part of our 35th Anniversary celebrations, Jack contacted us via our Gaisce Story Portal to share his fondest moments of taking part in Gaisce – The President’s Award. Our Gaisce Story Portal helps us to collect and share the amazing stories and memories that our Participants, Awardees and PALs have had with Gaisce -The President’s Award during our 35 years.
While taking part in his Gaisce Journey, Jack learned to fit windows, played hurling and volunteered for his local youth club.
Jack’s Adventure Journey saw him walk the unique route of Lisbon, Portugal to Santareem, Portugal. In total, Jack walked 91km over 4 days and 3 nights. Describing his experience of completing his Adventure Journey, Jack wrote that “I felt like my Adventure Journey was more of an exploration because I was doing something I had never done before in a place that I was unfamiliar with so it was all new to me.”
The Residential Project saw Jack travel to Croatia on a youth programme. Remembering the experience, Jack wrote that his Residential Project “was an international Erasmus youth exchange in split Croatia with two other international groups, Croatians and Norwegians. We played games to get to know each other and learn about different cultures.”
Speaking overall about his Gaisce experience, Jack said “my gold experience was amazing. I got to use some new skills I learned throughout my Gaisce Journey like how to work with kids with special needs.”
Summarising his Gaisce experience in three words, Jack said it was “fun, educational and exciting.”