DISCO Awards Inaugural Sovereign

The Downs Industry Schools Co-operation Inc or DISCO recently held its Annual General Meeting on the 12th of November.

Mike Paton, DISCO’s CEO commented:

“Our AGM’s are normally a fairly set and quite quick process which is primarily administrative as we acknowledge Ordinary and Executive members who have supported the organisation over the last 12 months and we welcome members prepared to step forward to provide assistance and guidance for the next year.

This year in the area of General Business myself and newly elected President Mr Neil Davy were delighted to acknowledge the organisations first DISCO Sovereign winner.

Outlined below is the presentation delivered on the night to recognise the services and support of a wonderful man who has supported the DISCO organisation for many, many years.”

Here is the speech presented on the night in detail:

DISCO Sovereign

DISCO has now been operating consistently for more than 20 years. In this time our organisation has supported thousands of young people and employed hundreds of people.
You could say we have matured as an organisation. We have persevered, thrived and stayed the course through challenging and uncertain times.
I believe the key to our success has been our determination and commitment to our ideals.
By not wavering we have demonstrated the very qualities that are so important to the young people we seek to support.
Qualities like commitment, determination, persistence and patience.
This idea was born from the very qualities outlined above.
DISCO’s very success has only been achieved by strong, supportive individuals and organisations who recognised that DISCO had an important role to play and supported us to be better, to be stronger.
By believing in our goals they too became a part of the DISCO story which commences a new chapter today.
Here are two quotes which exemplify the DISCO story.
The first one is from the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy…..

“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” …so remember: great achievements take time, there is no overnight success”.

This quote perfectly reflects how DISCO has evolved. Our leadership has been solid and we have carefully and steadfastly moved the organisation forward strategically and operationally.
Key to this is the quote from Andrew Carnegie who was the self-made steel baron in the US and at one stage the second most wealthy person on the planet in the early 1900’s. He said;

“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishment toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results”.

So, I hear you ask…what does all this mean?
Everything DISCO has achieved has happened from the commitment and dedication of individuals. People who have come on the journey with us and recognised what DISCO was trying to do to influence and support young lives positively.
Without the support of so many over such a long time DISCO could not have grown and it could not have succeeded to become the organisation it is today.
It is with great pleasure today to acknowledge the very first recipient of the DISCO Sovereign which is being awarded for the first time this evening.
The Sovereign represents the organisations highest honour and reflects an individual or an entity that has been instrumental to the organisation’s success. DISCO’s success comes from the foundations created by key people and organisations whose contribution has been instrumental in our success.
We will now provide some background on our first Award recipient.
Importantly we recognise the people both at committee level as well as team members who over many years with our external stakeholders at schools in government and in the community for supporting DISCO, so we could achieve so much over such a long time.
The inaugural winner of this award in 2018 has done much to help build up DISCO.
This person has been steadfast and true to our goals and provided support both as an employer and a committee member for over 22 years.
He has been on the DISCO Management Committee for 20 years.
During this time this person has attended 159 committee meetings and moved 72 various motions and seconded 141 of them.
I would describe this person has steadfast. Steadfast is defined as: loyal · faithful · committed · devoted · dedicated · dependable · reliable · steady · true · constant · staunch · trusty · firm · determined · resolute · steady
This person is all of these qualities and more.
The role of CEO has been made much easier over the years because of people like this. People who provided that strong support in both challenging and positive times.
The Management Committee Executive have the responsibility for determining a Sovereign winner and they have carefully considered this nomination.
It gives me great pleasure to ask President Neil to make the announcement of the inaugural DISCO Sovereign Award.
The winner of the very first DISCO Sovereign is Mr Len Zupp.
Congratulations Len.
I’m sure you will all agree that Len Zupp has demonstrated an Outstanding Contribution and has well and truly done his bit to be awarded the first DISCO Sovereign which comes with a framed certificate and a $100 Encores voucher.
We would now like to share with you the origins of the design and development of the Sovereign.
The Sovereign displays many messages commencing from the sunrise which sits below the faces. This exemplifies the new day and the prospect for hope and opportunity.
This leads into the faces of young people growing up with references to yesterday, today and tomorrow. These faces highlight the different stages moods and characteristics of the young people we support. Optimism and hope in the middle, consideration and contemplation on the left and uncertainty and doubt on the right.
Above the faces on the coin are stars and are symbolic and linked to the phrase to ‘reach for the stars’ which is what we encourage young people to aim for.
At the top and on the left and right of the coin you will see references to compass points with West, East and North visible. This reference links to a Moral Compass and to direction and links to the crossroads and decisions that young people need to consider when choosing the right path.
For those of you who know our logo you will see the coin is framed around an industry cog which highlights how important industry and business is to DISCO and the youth we support.
On the rear of the coin our message is simple..
Recognising an Outstanding Contribution

Congratulations and well-done Len.