Highest honour for Ough

Horsham’s Matt Ough received the highest honour of the Venturer Scout movement earlier this month when he was presented with the Queen’s Scout Award.

Ough, 17, collected the award at Taylors Lake Community Hall in front of members and leaders of the Second Horsham Venturer Unit, The Arch Venturer Unit, family and friends.

Scouts Victoria western region commissioner Ian Lock, Venturers western region commissioner Andrew Hubbard and Horsham Rural City councillor John Robinson were on hand to present the award.

The Queen’s Scout Award is presented to Venturers – members of the Scouting movement aged 14 to 17 – who have completed 13 Venturer Award activities and reached the higher Queen’s Scout Award standard in the areas of leadership development, personal growth, outdoor activities and community involvement.

Ough balanced his Scouting and studies during the past three years to achieve the award.

He also extended his area of personal growth beyond the Queen’s Scout level into the endeavour award level, where he contributed more than 300 additional hours.

Ough said achieving the award had been a challenging but rewarding experience.

“While the workload and commitment of combining school and Venturers was testing at times, I feel like I can achieve anything I set out to do in the future,” he said.

Ough travelled to Government House in Melbourne on Saturday where Governor of Victoria Linda Dessau recognised this year’s Queen’s Scout Award winners.