Nillumbik Young Citizen of the Year

The award is not the first time the 18-year-old Diamond Creek resident has been recognised - she was recently honoured with the VCE Achiever of the Year Award for her efforts during and after Black Saturday.

The quietly spoken, yet confident, Lenny, said she was thrilled to be honoured. And despite her young age, she said volunteering for the Diamond Creek fire brigade was the right thing to do. What she didn't expect was to be confronted with the events of Black Saturday.

Lenny did not hesitate in putting her hand up on Black Saturday and was soon on the Diamond Creek pumper helping defend the townships of Strathewen, Arthur's Creek and St Andrews. And in the nights following, she volunteered for strike teams supervising backburning operations.

According to Diamond Creek Fire Brigade Captain Peter Perkins, Lenny "saw things you wouldn't normally like someone so young to see." But Captain Perkins said Lenny was a "confident young woman who did everything asked of her and never made a fuss."

"The award is a great achievement. She's a well-rounded person, a community-minded person, and a shining example to other young people," he said.

Lenny's community-minded focus also extends to other areas: she volunteers with several organisations including Prison Fellowship Australia (PFA) and Youth with a Mission. Her PFA work involved helping organise a camp for children of prison inmates. In her final year of high school last year she also managed to organise a visit from the Red Cross Blood Bank.

The Pritchard name is well known to members at Diamond Creek Fire Brigade. Lenny's father has been a member for 22 years and her mother is a long-serving member of the Auxiliary.

And despite everything she witnessed on Black Saturday, there was some good news to come from her experiences.

"Since the fires we've had a lot of involvement at the school...  I got two brigades to come in and we talked about CFA and volunteering," she said.

Whatever was said that day worked because several classmates soon joined CFA.

Lenny will be studying Nursing/Midwifery at university this year.

We wish her well with her studies.