AN all-rounder with a passion for basketball, volunteering and public speaking has been named Gunnedah's Young Citizen of the Year.
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Seventeen-year-old Aidan R de Luzuriaga accepted the award at last night's dinner at the Gunnedah Town Hall.
The Gunnedah High School Year 12 student is an extremely active member of his community, and a volunteer for numerous organisations including the Gunnedah Youth Council.
He has previously been named Lions Youth of the Year, is vice-captain of Gunnedah High School and is always a strong competitor at the Rotary Public Speaking competitions.
Despite Australia Day falling on a date that doesn't align with his values, Aidan said he was still extremely proud to be nominated and recognised by the local community.
"There was a bit of back and forth of whether or not it was the right thing to go up for the award," he said.
"I'm still proud of being nominated and appreciative of the people in the community that recognised me for it."
For Aidan, volunteering is a way to give back to a community "which has helped him achieve so many things".
"Not so much now that I'm going into my senior years but as a young person I've got a lot of free time on my hands," he said.
"I'm in a small community where a lot of the people are helping me out as a young person to help give me the best opportunities in life, so it's been a way of giving back."
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Outside of school, Aidan can be found on the basketball court as an accomplished player and referee.
"There's no particular single thing which I enjoy the most, I have a tendency to have a lot of different passions, of course basketball has been a big one for me," he told the NVI.
In 2019, Aidan had the opportunity to coach a Gunnedah junior team which played in Tamworth.
Having been heavily involved in the Gunnedah Basketball Association, he said it was something he was really honoured to be approached for.
"I'd always wanted to be able to contribute to help boost basketball in Gunnedah," Aidan said.
"Basketball has been a passion of mine but I've always had to go over to Tamworth to play because we don't have a rep team here."
Keeping with the theme of giving back, Aidan said he has considered politics as a future career.
"I've been picking up a bit of an interest in politics, but it's something I try not to comment on too much because I'm still new to it," he admitted.
"So, that's something that I'm looking at learning about further and maybe going into in the future."