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Rotarians and guests from around the City, including the  Mayor and Mayoress of Wolverhampton packed the Great Hall at the Mount Hotel in Tettenhall this evening to honour the 2015 Young Citizens of the Year.

The Winner of the Award, Ramnik Uppal, (19) from Willenhall, spoke about her opportunities for leadership and voluntary work at Wolverhampton Girls’ High School, her voluntary work outside school and her first term at the University of Cambridge where she is reading Medicine.  Runner Up Kashmire Hawker (17) from Low Hill spoke about his voluntary work with Break Charity – Changing Young Lives an organisation which champions the rights and equal opportunities of disabled young people and the United Kingdom Youth Parliament of which he is Deputy Chairman. Alfie Baugh (9) spoke about the help he gives to his neighbours and the weekly newsletter he writes for them, as well as his charity fund raising work.

Rotarian Roger Timbrell, Chairman of the Young Citizen of the Year Organising Committee, chaired the event with Sir Geoff Hampton, Chairman of the judging panel and Honorary Member of the Club, gave the vote of the thanks to the young people and the Mayor of Wolverhampton, Cllr. Ian Brookfield, thanked the City’s Rotary Clubs for organising this annual Award.

Nominations for the 2016 Award are now open and can be made at the Wolverhampton Young Citizen website or at the Wolverhampton Civic Centre or at the customer services desk at Waitrose (Wolverhampton) on the Penn Road.

Roger Timbrell said ‘The Young Citizens of the year did us proud tonight. They are a credit to the City. The Award is all about celebrating young people who go that extra mile to help others’.

Wolverhampton Young Citizen of the Year Award Winner Ramnik Uppal is a conscientious, hardworking and motivated student.

Ramnnik has consistently demonstrated a positive attitude, achieving exceptional academic success whilst at the same time working tirelessly to support her school and local community. A gifted student Ramnik was successful in achieving 11 A* grades at GCSE and continued this success at AS level with 6 at grade A and with expectations that she will go on to achieve A* in all of her A2 level examinations.

She has natural leadership skills, having been appointed Head Girl at Wolverhampton Girls’ High School and contributes greatly to school, relishing the opportunity for responsibility; having organised peer mentoring sessions, led groups of prefects at events, delivered speeches, attended governors’ meetings and welcomed new students. She runs activities with young children for her Sports Leadership Award and is also a keen debater, speaking at competitions.

Ramnik completed “The Challenge” with the National Citizen Service, becoming an ambassador for them; helping other teams design a campaign raising awareness of a local hospice and supporting fundraising. Since March 2014, she has volunteered weekly at a residential care home, working with dementia patients as well as volunteering at a local Barnardo’s store.

In making the award to Ramnik the judging panel recognised the selfless way in which she gives her time so freely, helping others and demonstrating her caring nature, and making a positive impact on her local community.

Rotarians are community champions who stand up for our communities both locally and overseas. We support those who need help, we strive to improve lives and we bring about positive change in our neighbourhoods.

Well by those measures Wolverhampton Young Citizen Award finalist Alfie Baugh, despite his relatively young age, has all the makings of an exceptional Rotarian.

Photo credit – Woverhampton Mayor

Through his fund raising activities Alfie recently raised £680 for comic relief by making red nose cupcakes and selling those over two weekends from home. He printed off over 100 flyers and posted them to all his neighbours and streets in the local area and also told all his friends and teachers. Many people to his house just to donate money because they liked his flyer. Alfie also approached a local Tettenhall estate agent, Peter James and asked him to match whatever he had raised and Peter was delighted to say yes!

Alfie is a very motivated, confident and caring boy and not only does he raise money for charity but he also writes a weekly newsletter for all the residents in his neighbourhood helping to pull the community together. Nuns from the convent near to his home contribute a weekly prayer to put in the newsletter and a neighbour writes an astronomy column. For bonfire night last year Alfie sent a newsletter out asking all his neighbours to meet up in the park and each bring a firework. He got all the neighbours together and arranged a street firework display which was a great night and all the neighbours joined in. Everybody in the neighbourhood knows Alfie, he takes everyone’s dustbins in on bin day, he also helps a disabled lady who lives just over the road and litter picks in the street.

Alfie is proof that age is no barrier when it comes to making a positive change in our neighbourhoods.

The Wolverhampton Young Citizen Award looks to recognise exceptional contributions made by the City’s Young people to our community.

For the past 18 months competition finalist Kashmire Hawker has been a young leader with Changing Young Lives (CYL), a rights based organisation working with children, young people and adults to stand up for their rights and be seen as people first, irrespective of their disability.

Kashmire is an extremely passionate young man who wants to tell the world what young disabled people can achieve. He has led practice development sessions in Wolverhampton with a range of professionals across health, education and social care to improve services, challenge practice and raise their expectations of young disabled people. He has co-produced and co-delivered a national training programme around Special Education Needs & Disability (SEND) reforms – work which has helped to inform young disabled people nationwide about the new laws and how it affects them to enable them to take control of their own support and decisions about their lives.

Kashmire’s goal is a career in politics and he has recently been re-elected as vice chair for the UK Youth Parliament (UKYP).

Kashmire goes the extra mile in standing up for young disabled people, ensuring their voices are heard and he is working to create a fairer and more inclusive society in which himself and his peers can participate and belong.

Its the first time that here has ever been joint nomination for the award but Gursonia Clair and Anisha Aujilay have always worked together to put the needs of others above their own.

As part of the Charity Committee at Tettenhall College for the past year their ideas and actions have been an integral part in helping to collect over £7000 for various charities, including CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young), Compton Hospice, Macmillan Cancer Support and Children In Need. They are the first to volunteer for the charity events and often use their own money and time to arrange events, giving their time freely despite being under pressure with schoolwork.

Gursonia and Anisha have also undertaken fundraising for Cancer Research UK — including a fun run, hot dog sales, and lunchtime discos — all under their own steam as part of their D of E scheme. Break times see Gursonia and Anisha staff the pupil tuck shop and at lunchtime they volunteer to run a games club for Reception pupils, so that they can learn all about team work, taking part and the aspect of winning and losing.

They are both hoping to go into the field of medicine after their A Levels and tutors believe their outlook in helping others will stand them in good stead. The College is understandably proud of the pair and of the excellent example which they set for other pupils.

Although its called the Wolverhampton Young Citizen Award nominations aren’t restricted to young people living in the City.

Finalist Sophie Evans lives just over the border in Sedgley but as her Grandparents live in Bilston many of her activities have always been in Bilston.

A member of the scouting movement from the age of 6 Sophie represented the Wolverhampton East District at the World Scout Jamboree in Norway in 2011 and as a member of Wolverhampton East District Explorer scouts has become a young Leader and, as of this year, an assistant Cub Scout leader and continues to give her time freely.

The scouting movement changes lives by offering 6- to 25-year-olds fun and challenging activities, unique experiences, everyday adventure and the chance to help others so that we make a positive impact in communities. The work which Sophie does helps children to reach their full potential by developing skills such as teamwork, time management, leadership, initiative, planning, communication, self-motivation, cultural awareness and commitment – helping young people to get jobs, save lives and even change the world.

Sophie now attends Halesowen College where she hopes to continue with Childcare, being motivated and aspiring to work with disabled children. In addition, she works with special needs youngsters, having given her time to support many fund Raising activities with a group who meet in Prouds Lane Bilston helping to raise the £2000 required each year to maintain and run the building. She consistently offers her help willingly and has a real passion for helping and supporting young people.