I feel privileged that despite our school being small it had ran the duke of Edinburgh award for a few years when I first heard about it. Many of our year joined the scheme doing bronze first and it was unlike anything I had ever done before.
Not only do you have to do a physical, volunteering and skills activity whilst balancing school work but allowed you to learn and work in extra-curricular environments and meet lots of new people whilst being motivated by achieving the hours needed for the award.
I remember doing the first expedition with people in my year and little did i know the group of people I joined would soon become some of my best friends still today. The bronze expedition was one of the first times I had wild camped in the Scottish highlands and had to learn teamwork, stamina, navigation and map skills to finish the expedition. I found it extremely hard to keep going (extreme exhaustion and discomfort. Each expedition was full of memories and things I will never forget. We had to work together and look out for each other like never before and even when we felt like giving up we still strived to finish.
After I thought no way am I going to continue this however 3 years later I continued on with the same group and it was only our group who achieved silver and gold too which is still one of the biggest achievements in my life. I don't think I would have not only gotten to University without it but taught me things that I will never forget and stay with me for life.
When a year after we had achieved Gold later we visited Holyrood palace for the royal ceremony and felt so proud to be there with my friends and family. To meet royalty and be awarded with our certificate was such an amazing experience made everything I had been through, worth it! I would highly recommend this scheme to all young people which allows you to push your limits and achieve things you never thought you could!