I joined a new school and the DofE expedition leader needed help. As an experienced hillwalker I was happy to volunteer. I learnt a lot about running expeditions, but at the same time saw what a difference it made to the young people. Academic ability was irrelevant. I remember one lad who was bright but often in trouble, but he went on to gain his Gold award and I could see his real sense of not just achievement but being valued. After five years I moved on and took over the running of the award at a fairly small school each year we would have about 100 girls involved. In the 19 years I was there I saw so many success stories. Girls who grew in confidence, faced challenges, learnt how to work with others, learnt about themselves. On expeditions I too was out in the rain, the wind, the cold and they saw a human side of me which transferred back into school making me more effective there. There were many real success stories – the girl who had recently lost both parents still completing her Gold award, the girl diagnosed as type 1 diabetic going on to complete her Bronze expedition then Silver and Gold, the autistic girl who struggled with so many things completing both Bronze and Silver awards. The girl who had had a heart transplant completing her Bronze award – and there are many more. In my time as both teacher and senior manager I consider the work I did running the DofE award was more worthwhile and had more lasting impact than much of the rest of what I did. For the last 11 years I have also been responsible for DofE in Girlguiding NEE, supporting and offering opportunities to girls and young women from across the region. The region expeditions attract participants from our own region and beyond. We have supported the home-schooled girl who wanted a safe group to join for her expedition, the diabetic for whom her gold expedition was the first one without her mother there, the girl with autism and ADHD, and so on. DofE changes lives – I have seen it.