The 2017 NRL Community Awards kicked off this year with an Acknowledgment of Country from NRL Young Person of The Year nominee, Blake Griffins and acknowledged an array of people in the community with awards such as Grassroots Club of the Year Presented by Telstra, NRL Club Community Program of the Year and Women in League Achievement Award Presented by Harvey Norman.
We were pleased that one of our own, Courtney Baxter took out the 2017 NRL Young Person of the Year award. Courtney has been a part of the School to Work Program for several years and was the only Bulldogs candidate.
Courtney is a year 12 HSC students who is about to graduate from Picnic Point High School. 2017 has seen Courtney lead a particularly remarkable year and the NRL being one of the first in line to commended Courtney for it. Courtney has been a keen driver for Youth Off the Streets, having a hand in organising the Youth Off The Street’s Sleepout, Youth Off The Street’s Roaming Rainbow Project, and Youth fest just to name a few. Courtney has remained an active member in her school community and a young leader for the NRL School to work program.
The NRL School to Work program, supported by the Australian Federal Government to help ‘close the gap’ in Indigenous Australian socio-economic disadvantage has been supporting Indigenous students like Courtney since 2012.
Courtney has expressed interest in continuing her passion for working with young people as a youth worker in the juvenile justice system.
Courtney joined other winners including:
Ø Grassroots Club of the Year Presented by Telstra is Murgon Junior Rugby League Football Club (QRL)
Ø Volunteer of the Year is Darren Deitz (NSWRL)
Ø Women in League Achievement Award Presented by Harvey Norman is Jacqueline Jones (QRL)
Ø Teacher of the Year Presented by ACCOR Hotels is Travis McIntosh (NRL VIC)
Ø Young Person of the Year is Courtney Baxter (School 2 Work)
Ø NRL Club Community Program of the Year is ‘Be All In’, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
Ø Ken Stephen Medal Presented by Telstra is Sam Tagataese, Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
