Three students from Clyde Valley High School have won the SkillForce Prince’s Award. Ryan Burrell, Jamie Semple and George Wilson, received their awards from HRH The Duke of Cambridge at a ceremony at St James’s Palace.

The Duke of Cambridge, in conjunction with SkillForce, launched the SkillForce Prince’s Award in recognition of the contribution that young people make to their communities.  In a message of support to the charity, the Duke of Cambridge said: “I am immensely proud to put my name to the SkillForce Prince’s Award.  It rewards young people who have made an outstanding contribution to their community, encouraging them to go further to nurture their personal, professional or educational development.”

Five students from Clyde Valley High School demonstrated their commitment to the local area by refurbishing a community centre for local people.  The local challenge was one of seven taking place across the country and took place at Craigneuk Community Centre in June. The young people agreed amongst themselves the theme for the challenge having noted that the community space available to residents was not fit for purpose and felt that this was something that could be improved through their collaboration and hard work. They then planned, budgeted and implemented the task themselves. The three lucky students were selected as winners of the award after being judged against strict criteria. 

One  of the winners, Ryan Burrell, said: “I feel overjoyed with our achievement.  It is great that we are being rewarded for our hard work.  The work we completed has helped to vastly improve a community and I feel so proud at how much we accomplished in only 24 hours.  We are all so happy about winning the award and being given this once in a lifetime opportunity makes it even better!”