Belconnen High School Year 10 student Codie Frank has donated two years of her time towards helping children with disabilities.
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Codie is completing an Australian School Based Apprenticeship at Cranleigh Specialist School in Holt.
She started out volunteering at the school and was soon offered the opportunity to turn her volunteer work into something more.
''The opportunity came up and I took it,'' she says of her decision to work towards the apprenticeship scheme.
Cranleigh provides education programs for children between the ages of three and 12, all of whom have moderate to severe intellectual disabilities.
Codie's father Frank said, ''Codie absolutely loves it.
''The support that they get from Cranleigh is absolutely fantastic.''
Codie, along with Year 12 student Samantha Dowdeswell from co-educational Melba Copland Secondary School and Year 11 student Catherine Dempster from Radford High School, was honoured for the work she does at Cranleigh at the ACT Children's Week Awards yesterday.
Codie, Samantha and Catherine were each awarded Youth Commitment and Community for Children Awards after being nominated by Cranleigh Specialist School deputy principal Sue Roache.
The awards are given to recipients who have made an outstanding contribution to children in the community; they have seen a need in their community and worked together on a solution.
The ACT Children's Week Awards recognised the achievements of children, young people and organisations in the Canberra community and the work they have done with and for the children in their local communities.
As part of the school-based apprenticeship scheme, Codie, Sam and Catherine take two days from school a week to work with the children at Cranleigh.
''We work with the kids and provide help wherever it's needed,'' Codie said.
''We help in the classrooms as well as the playground.
''I can feel proud of what I've achieved.''
At the end of the apprenticeship scheme, Codie and the other two girls will each receive a Certificate Three in Disabilities, something that Codie admits will help her in the future, when she may seek a job in the disability sector.
''It leads to opportunities in the future,'' she said.
''It will definitely help with my career.''
ACT Children's Week runs until Sunday.