QLD Participants meet Her Majesty, The Queen

The average young person will only dream of having the chance to meet Her Majesty The Queen and HRH, The Duke of Edinburgh. Monika Geschke from Yuronga State High School experienced her dreams becoming a reality this October when Her Majesty The Queen and HRH Prince Phillip, The Duke of Edinburgh visited Queensland. Monika_Flowers

Monika’s involvement with The Duke of Ed has been exceptional so far; she has completed her Queensland Bridge Award (Level 1), as well as her Bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards and is currently doing her Gold Award.

Her Majesty, The Queen visited Southbank in Brisbane to meet with those personally effected by the January 2011 floods, and the teams of people who volunteered throughout a devastating time for the community. Monika was nominated to be a part of this special day as she was personally impacted by the January 2011 floods and has achieved several Duke of Ed Award levels.

During the course of the proceedings, Monika had the chance to meet the official welcoming party: Lord Mayor Graham Quirk, his wife Anne Quirk, Leader of the Opposition Jeff Seeney and his wife Therese Seeney.

“My task was to carry the many flowers and gifts presented to the Queen as I followed the Official Royal Party on her public walk through the Cultural Forecourt to the Queensland Performing Arts Centre,” said Monika.

“There were many thousands of people offering gifts and trying to catch a glimpse of the Queen. At one point I had my arms full of flowers, a toy koala in one pocket and a boomerang in the other.”

Over the course of the walk, Her Majesty, the Queen stopped to speak to many of the people who had turned out in force to welcome her to Queensland. “Her Majesty was very generous with her time and took 30 minutes to walk through the crowd...” reflected Monika.

“This was a wonderful experience,” Monika said, “I would like to thank Mr Barrett, The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Coordinator at our school for nominating me for this once in a lifetime opportunity.”

QLD Participants meet Her Majesty, The Queen

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