Heather Rankin, from Darlington, will be going for gold next month when she collects an award from the Duke of Edinburgh.
Heather, 20, of Galloway, has qualified for the gold Duke of Edinburgh Award, which will be presented to her at St James's Palace on Wednesday, November 14.
The gold award is presented to young people who have completed a range of activities over 18 months.
Heather, a member of the Air Training Corps, has done everything from cleaning up beaches to playing tenor horn in a county band in order to gain her award.
She said: "I did a residential project in Cyprus and during my time there we did community work, such as cleaning up the beach for the turtles, which was great fun and also gave me satisfaction knowing I had made a contribution to helping the local wildlife and the environment."
She also completed an expedition in the Derbyshire Peak District and worked as a community sports leader.
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