6 students receive Jack Petchey Achievement Awards at Hip Hop Pop. Plus, Who is Jack Petchey?

Congratulations and celebrations are in order for 6 Hip Hop Pop students who have been recognised for their individual achievements at Hip Hop Pop, all thanks to the Jack Petchey Foundation Achievement Awards Scheme.

(Find out more detail about the Award Scheme at the bottom of this page)

In brief the Achievement Award Scheme - of which we are Gold Members at Hip Hop Pop - allow us to award 9 students (aged 11 to 25) a year for personal achievements at our dance school. In return the Jack Petchey Foundation provides funds to help us offer activities, trips, equipment and more at Hip Hop Pop that benefits young people (aged 11-25). With the guidance of others nominations and suggestions, we are excited to publicly announce the first 6 of 9 winners of these awards for the year 2020:

Here are our Winners, in no particular order, all equal winners of the awards:

Winner 1: Darcie Caines

(age 24)

Darcie, member for the last year and a half, has put her whole self into learning new styles. However specifically in 'Locking' she has made huge progress, showing herself and her peers how learning a new style in your 20's is 100% do able - Darcie's passion for dance deserves awarding

Winner 2: Lauren Bradley

(age 23)

Lauren, member now for over a year. Moved to the area and has integrated into the group fantastically by putting herself out there to take part in activities and shows and make friends. Lauren's courage to come to a class alone not knowing anyone in class and the area shows great drive and she's progressing fantastically - we'd like to award her for the reasons above and her improvement

Winner 3: Kemarah Denty

(age 15)

Kemarah, member now for over a year has shown passion and positivity in her street dance journey to date. Not only has Kemarah made a vast improvement in her skill set, she has shown dedication to dance by attending pretty much every online offering we're doing through lockdown, she clearly takes her progression seriously and deserves the recognition

Winner 4: Evie Bulgen

(age 12)

Evie has worked her way up through her 4 years with Hip Hop Pop deserving of an award previously but not quite of qualifying age. Evie is now able to be rewarded for her skill progression and demonstration to her peers of what commitment, skill progression and drive look like

Winner 5: Lewis Terrell

(age 11)

Lewis is a busy young lad! He takes part in multiple sports at a high level. His strength in his movement has grown at a rapid rate, but most importantly he is 100% committed to his dance education even though his extra curricular activity diary is jam packed. A wonderful example of resilience & hard work

Winner 6: Hayden Turner

(age 11)

Hayden made a huge leap this year! A member since 2015, he's previously not been able pluck up the courage to perform on stage with Hip Hop Pop, but NOW this year in March 2020 he made his stage debut! He absolutely smashed it and should be so proud of himself for overcoming a mental hurdle. We can't wait to have him on stage with us again

What did these awards then fund?

The fund from the above award winners went to many great things, including making it possible to bring BGT Champs Twist and Pulse to Hip Hop Pop - and for it to be FREE to members! Allowing the opportunity to be accessible for everyone, with no exclusion for those who may be struggling financially through COVID-19. We were also able to fund guest tutors for our students to learn from virtually through lockdown, including West End performers and some style specialists.

Who are the Jack Petchey Foundation?

"The Jack Petchey Foundation was set up to inspire and motivate young people and recognise them for their achievements."

The Jack Petchey Foundation was set up by Sir Jack Petchey CBE to inspire and celebrate young people. Since 1999, over £133 million has been invested in programmes to benefit young people aged 11-25 across London and Essex.

"The Foundation has invested over £133 million in young people across London and Essex"

The Jack Petchey Foundation supports many programmes, from sport to science, art to internships, vlogging to volunteering. They encourage every young person to get involved and try something new. Their major programme is the Jack Petchey Achievement Award Scheme, which is run in 1,600 youth clubs, youth organisations and secondary schools across London and Essex, including Hip Hop Pop.

Who is Jack Petchey?

Sir Jack Petchey set up the Jack Petchey Foundation to inspire young people across London and Essex to work hard and reach their full potential.*

He was born into a working class family in the East End in 1925, left school at 13 and then joined the Navy in 1943. After leaving the Navy, he began working as a clerk for a solicitor’s firm. He applied for management training but was told he would never make a businessman.

"Sir Jack always says: If you think you can, you can!"

Instead of giving up, Sir Jack used the £39 he was given from the Navy to buy a second hand car and started a taxi business. Through hard work, he proved them wrong and built a multi-million-pound empire. Sir Jack’s experiences led to his passion to increase young people's aspirations by rewarding their achievements.

In 2016, Sir Jack received his knighthood in recognition of his many years of charitable work.

If you would like to find out more about Sir Jack, order his autobiography ‘The 50/50 Man’, which is also available as a free PDF.*

What is the Jack Petchey Achievement Award Scheme?

"The flagship programme is the Jack Petchey Achievement Award Scheme, which recognises outstanding young people aged 11-25 across London and Essex."

Jack Petchey Achievement Award winners are young people who have gone above and beyond to achieve – perhaps when others thought they might fail.

"The Achievement Awards are primarily about recognising those who put in the effort and do their best." - Sir Jack Petchey CBE

Each year, they recognise 14,000 Achievement Award winners and invest £3.5m through the Achievement Awards scheme. Awards mean different things to different people. The Achievement Awards are not solely for academic achievement – they may be used to recognise a personal triumph for someone who has faced a challenge, a young person who has pushed themselves outside of their comfort zone or it may be an opportunity to recognise the outstanding efforts of a team player.

In Conclusion

A huge well done from all of us at Hip Hop Pop, to our first 6 achievement award winners this year; Darcie, Lauren, Kemarah, Evie, Hayden and Lewis, continue to work hard, inspire and accomplish many things in life, including in dance of course. Hip Hop Pop has been supported by the Jack Petchey Foundation for over 10 years, nearly 100 students over that time have been recognised for their achievements, we cannot thank The Foundation enough for their support. The next 3 achievement awards will be announced in November 2020

Resources:

https://www.jackpetcheyfoundation.org.uk/about-us/about-the-foundation/

https://www.jackpetcheyfoundation.org.uk/opportunities/grant-programmes/achievement-awards/

https://www.jackpetcheyfoundation.org.uk/about-us/who-is-sir-jack-petchey/ *(quoted directly from this website)

Jenny - Director

www.hiphoppop.net