Kerran very proudly accepted the award at a ceremony in the Lions Park at Kingston on January 26th 2006. This is an annual award for a person aged under 25 years, in the Kingston District Council area and is voted on by all district councillors.
The nomination follows:
AUSTRALIA DAY - YOUNG CITIZEN AWARD NOMINATION
Kerran Wingard is an outstanding 19-year-old citizen who completed all but one year of his schooling at Kingston Community School. During 2002 Kerran was awarded a 12-month American Field Scholarship to attend secondary school in Zurich, Switzerland, following rigorous State and National selection procedures. Since his return he has voluntarily assisted other AFS returnees as an adviser.
Always a keen sportsperson, Kerran has contributed significantly in a voluntary capacity to the local community, accepting responsibility and leadership positions both in his school life and a range of community activities. Kerran has displayed a sense of maturity and devotion to his community and life in general.
In 2004 he was bestowed Kingston Community School’s Sportsperson of the Year and Caltex Best All Rounder Awards for his active and varied participation and leadership in a wide range of activities within the school and wider community. Kerran was House Captain for several years and School Captain at Interschool Sports Day in his final year at school. He regularly represented the school at Interschool and Mile End athletics, through SAPSASA cricket and football and at 9-a-side football and Super 8s cricket competitions. At Community School Week Kerran instructed community members and students in the art of Petanque and Indoor Cricket for several years.
At school he also participated in the school’s Anti-Bullying committee, including subsequent policy writing and the Magazine committee, school fundraising and as a Wood Hut volunteer. In 2003 he was selected to represent the school at the Young Leaders Conference and attended the Constitutional Convention at Parliament House in Adelaide. He worked at the Lucindale Field Days for three years on the school’s milk van, and assisted with the Chaplaincy fundraiser in 2002.
Elected by his peers as Treasurer of the school’s Student Representative Council in 2004, Kerran instigated the adoption of the current SRC constitution, a process which took many weeks of voluntary time to research, investigate and formulate in concert with staff, students, parents through the Governing Council and the SRC. Following this consultation process he was prepared to make suggested modifications and to see the project through to its acceptance by the school community.
Kerran has represented Kingston and the South East many times; in particular he was part of the South East Under-16 Country Carnival Cricket team in Port Lincoln in 2001, and played with the Millicent team in the Kerr Shield Under-14 competition for two seasons. His first taste of senior cricket was in 1999 at the age of thirteen, when he would play Junior cricket on Saturday mornings followed by senior cricket in the afternoons. As a Junior, he was Cricketer of the Year twice and as a senior player, joint Cricketer of the Year in 2004-2005, despite missing a number of games due to being overseas. In 2001 he was Port Adelaide wicket-keeper in the Shell Shield competition.
In 2005, as part of the Millicent and District cricket team, he was wicket-keeper at the Country Carnival. For the last 3 seasons he has enjoyed umpiring Junior cricket and has regularly supported the cricket and football clubs voluntarily at working bees and fundraisers. He was Have-A-Go Cricket coordinator and coach for two seasons, requiring many voluntary hours of behind-the-scenes work for the benefit of young cricketers.
During 2004 Kerran was Assistant Coach of the Kingston Junior Colts football team, assisting with weekly team selections and training, and conducting training solo on Tuesday nights throughout the season. In 2003 he represented the KNTFL in the Under-17 Interleague team and in 2004-2005 he was selected to train on a weekly basis with the Glenelg Football Club’s Development Academy.
Over the last two seasons Kerran has been a Junior Basketball playing coach and umpire to assist junior players one night a week.
In his younger days Kerran enjoyed learning both classical guitar and piano and regularly performed at Senior Citizens concerts. For four consecutive years Kerran was part of the winning South East Mathematics Quiz (General Knowledge section) team which represented KCS in Millicent.
During his school years Kerran worked on a casual basis on weekends and holidays at a local roadhouse, receiving numerous customer comments about his outgoing, helpful, friendly personality. Being proficient in the German language he often found himself assisting foreign tourists passing through Kingston. Throughout, he maintained a balance between study and extra-curricular activities, receiving the very creditable adjusted TER for Year 12 of 97.20.
In 2005 Kerran has been employed as a Certificate III Information Technology trainee at the Kingston Library. He has often been requested both during business hours and after hours to assist community members with computer and Internet problems, a task he has been willing to embrace. He also accepted the responsibility of preparing and presenting the PowerPoint presentation for the Saints Junior and Senior Colts’ wind-up event in September, another time-consuming task.
In addition to his work in 2005, Kerran has taken on the community-based tasks of Kingston Triathlon Committee President, Treasurer of the Kingston Cricket Club 2004-2005, A-grade cricket wicket-keeper and active committee member, Kingston Idol compere for Kingston Care, Have-a-Go Cricket assistant and Runner for the Saints Junior Colts.
Kerran’s enthusiasm for physical activity has seen him participate in the Kingston Triathlon for the last 3 years – in 2004 he won the Under-19 Come-and-Try division. He is also a current Kingston Golf Club member, who plays socially on a regular basis.
As President of the Triathlon Committee, Kerran has written dozens of letters and made many phone calls to local and national organisations to ensure sponsorship for the 2006 event. He has shown initiative in arranging meetings with local businesses to secure support; has conducted monthly meetings to organise the State event, is creating a Kingston Triathlon website in his own time, and is striving to ensure an improved event in February. He has successfully applied for Kingston District Council grants on behalf of both the Triathlon and Cricket Clubs.
Kerran has recently been bestowed the honour of being a community runner in the Queen’s Baton Relay at Goolwa in February, ahead of the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.
In 2006 Kerran will study a double degree in Human Movement/Bachelor of Education at UniSA, with the intention of returning to a rural area to teach Physical Education. He is keen to return to Europe to further his qualifications as part of his tertiary studies.
Throughout his life Kerran has demonstrated that he is a responsible, confident, honest young individual and team person, prepared to give a great deal back to his community for the benefit of others. He communicates effectively and positively with his peers, younger members of the community and adults around him.
Kerran’s significant contribution to his community would make him a most worthy recipient of the Young Citizen of the Year Award for 2006.
Jessie Wingard 26 October, 2005
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