President Rosen Plevneliev handed out the awards of the International Duke of Edinburgh Award for 2015. 25 youths out of a total of 180 participants from all parts of Bulgaria were presented with honorary badges and certificates by the Head of State as a symbol of the responsibility to personality development.
The international award is a youth program for personal achievements in the sphere of informal education and it includes pupils and students aged 14 to 24. The participants have set themselves ambitious goals in the spheres of volunteer endeavors, practical skills and they take a challenging trip.
The Head of State voiced gratitude to the participants in the Program, who improve their skills on a daily basis, and they not only perfect themselves as personalities, but also improve the environment surrounding them. “You develop you leader’s qualities and you practically understand the meaning of words such as responsibility, team spirit, perseverance, self-improvement and above all planning,” the President said. Rosen Plevneliev encouraged the young people to continue along the chosen path and highlighted the program as unique because of the values it preaches – tolerance, doing good things and solidarity.
“The program will help you to acquire skills in different spheres, to educate yourselves, to be tolerant and have a team spirit, to establish contacts and form communities. Experience will help you to be good, active citizens and find your place in society,” President Plevneliev further highlighted.
“Bulgaria needs a young generation, which believes that change is in its hands,” Emma Hopkins, British ambassador to Bulgaria, commented and congratulated the awarded young people on their achievements. The International Duke of Edinburgh Award has been striving to enrich the participants in the program as active citizens, the diplomat said at the ceremony.
The Program of the International Duke of Edinburgh Award was founded 60 years ago and currently millions of young people from 144 countries participate in it. The program has been functioning in Bulgaria under the auspices of Head of State Rosen Plevneliev since 2014.