Elle Austen

My DofE Journey began back in School where I completed my Bronze & Silver DofE Awards. I was then fortunate enough to complete my Gold DofE Award through being in the Air Cadets.

The DofE Award has opened up many opportunities and has helped contribute and develop me into the person I am today. The experiences of dedicating myself to complete the Awards, learning new skills, pushing myself out of my comfort zone and most importantly developing friendships and life long memories. The DofE Award allowed me to adapt a “Can do Attitude” which I have embraced everyday since which has helped me remain resilient to get through some challenging times.

During my Gold Award in the space of about an hour we saw all the weather conditions known there was Rain, Wind, Snow, & Sun etc Waterproofs were on and then off! We also had pretty much all of Tesco’s Sweet Aisle to give us the much needed energy at times!

To this day, I still involved in the Volunteering aspect of my DofE Award as a Leader at my local Scout Group and am using the experiences from my DofE to teach the young people the skills I had learnt through this award and Scouting.

The sense of pride from achieving all three levels of the DofE and being presented my Gold Award in St James’ Palace will be something I am forever proud of.

I would recommend the DofE Award to anyone who is looking for a challenge, to develop themselves, have fun, learn new skills, make a difference within their community and create memories in which will last a lifetime.

We all owe so much to the HRH Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh for our diverse life experiences he created through founding this Award. He has changed the lives of many young people. And what an amazing legacy you have left behind for many young people worldwide to complete. May you rest peacefully.
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