Abigail Johns has completed a rarely achieved double by gaining both her Queen's Guide and Queen's Scout awards. With a father who is a Midhirst Scout leader and a mother who was Stratford GirlGuiding leader, Abigail says she decided to join both organisations rather than choose.
The Queen's Scout and
Queen's Guide awards are the highest for youth in each organisation and represent many years of commitment.
Learning new skills and achieving personal challenges was a feature of both awards, with Abigail completing a range of tasks and activities from tramping the Pouakai circuit to attending national venturer events. Abigail also "survived" a pioneering camp and ran a camp for brownies at Ivy Cottage, the Taranaki GirlGuiding property.
Completing service in the community was a significant part of both awards and Abigail became an assistant Brownie leader, helping the Stratford Brownies for several years. She also assisted with the Midhirst Cubs and Scouts for shorter periods and volunteered at the Salvation Army Family Store, as well as picking up rubbish at Womad with her friends for 5 consecutive years.
Although it has been demanding trying to complete both awards as well as keep up with her Stratford High School work, netball, social sports, dancing and youth group, Abigail is pleased she persevered and feels a real sense of accomplishment.
