Student Successes
Sam Bruce receiving his award from Mr Paul West, Chief Constable of West Mercia Constabulary
Good Citizen Sam
14th November 2007
Sam Bruce, a student of Hereford Sixth Form College, was recently nominated as one of Mercia Constabulary’s Good Citizens of the Year.
Sam, who comes from Kingsland and is a former pupil of Wigmore High School, was one of two young people nominated from Herefordshire, Tom Powell from Wyebridge Sports College being the other.
Each year West Mercia Constabulary invites schools from throughout its force area to nominate young people under the age of 18 to be considered for these awards. Now in their 20th year the annual awards recognise acts of outstanding community spirit, generosity and courage by young people.
PC Taryn Green, who has organised the awards for West Mercia Constabulary this year, said:
“All the young people who have received a Good Citizen Award this year, have shown that they are prepared to give up their own time to make a difference to their communities.
“As always it was very difficult to select just 10 people for the Good Citizen of the Year shortlist, but the divisional commanders feel the young people they have selected really stood out.
“All the nominees are thoroughly deserving and their families, friends and nominators should be very proud of them, and the Chief Constable had a difficult task of choosing just one person to be the overall Good Citizen of the Year – a very tough decision.”
Sam, along with Tom and the eight others from other parts of West Mercia Police’s region who were short-listed for the top award, received their Good Citizen of the Year award, a prize, and £50 from West Mercia’s Chief Constable, Mr Paul West at a ceremony held recently at police headquarters at Hindlip Hall, Worcester. The overall winner of the Good Citizen of the Year award was Deena Kent from the force’s Telford and Wrekin Division.
Sam’s role as a voluntary member of the Teme Valley Youth Project committee was key to his nomination for this prestigious award. During the year he volunteered to help run a number of events for his peers and for the local community. Last summer he prepared and cooked all the meals for staff and peers on a three-day residential trip and helped run two community café events at TVYP. In May he was head chef at a fundraising event and prepared a three-course meal for 40 people.