Local teenager Aaron Patton has been selected as a Certificate of Commendation award winner for Community Service by the Order of Australia Association New South Wales Branch.
These prestigious medals will be presented at a ceremony on November 23 by Her Excellency the Governor of NSW Marie Bashir at Government House, Sydney.
Aaron was nominated for the award by Andrew Parkin at Westport High School for the school and community volunteer work he has been involved in and at times led.
In 2008 Aaron trained to become a school Peer Support Leader and in 2009 he began the year as a Peer Support Leader for the new Year 7 students.
This involved a six-`   hour workshop to ensure the students settled into high school quickly.
He also received a Distinction in the 2009 HTA NSW History Competition.
In October 2009 he participated in the local Rotary Club Public Speaking Competition. At Presentation Night in 2009 he received two awards for his efforts that year: The Parents & Citizens Award for Excellence in Aquaculture and the Hastings Council Junior Boy Citizenship Award, for his work for WASCALS (Westport Aware Students of Cancer And Leukaemia Sufferers).
He had organised and been Team Captain for WASCALS Relay 4 Life team, organised Daffodil Day, Biggest Morning Tea and the World’s Greatest Shave as well as working with Camp Quality.
In November that year he participated in the 2009 Australasian School Futsal Championships and is again competing at these championships this year.
In 2010 Aaron was a Club Finalist in the Lions Youth of the Year quest.
Aaron represented the school and Port Macquarie West Rotary Club at the Model United Nations competition in Wollongong.
Also in 2010 he participated in a leadership program known as Max Potential.
The program connects community leaders with emerging young leaders to accelerate their potential to achieve.
In this program he was encouraged to complete a community project of his choosing and was challenged to lift his game through 12 hours of personalised coaching.
Over the 22 weeks of this program Aaron decided to make his community project about blood donation.
With the lack of donors in the Port Macquarie region, he had made it his goal to encourage others to donate and he made it his goal to encourage 30 people to donate blood.
He achieved this goal, along-side his mentor Adrian Davis.
Aaron was elected House Captain by the school community and in Education Week 2010 he was awarded the North Coast Region Excellence in Student Achievement award.
Throughout this year Aaron also continued his extensive involvement with WASCALS and Futsal.
In 2011 Aaron was elected School Captain for Westport High School and during his time fulfilling this role, he represented the school and students at a large number of community events, including ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day.
He also maintained his leadership in the school community service group WASCALS, in particular being involved in Relay 4 Life and Daffodil Day.
Early in 2011 he represented the school community and flew to Sydney to attend a Speech and Morning Tea with Her Excellency the Governor of NSW Marie Bashir.
At his Year 12 Graduation he was presented with two awards: the Country Women’s Association Community Service Award and the Jason Northey Memorial Award for School Leadership.
