Doing DofE helped me to make friends with new people. None of my group of friends at school were interested so I ended up doing my Gold expedition with people in my year group who I'd never had much contact with. It was a wonderful experience and the feeling of achievement, awe and freedom I felt standing at the top of Sca Fell Pike on Day 1 of our Gold qualifying expedition will stay with me always.
Completing all three Duke of Edinburgh Awards gave me confidence in myself and showed me that I could achieve anything I put my mind to. Although some of it was hard at the time, I have fond memories of all three of my qualifying expeditions and am so pleased that I took the decision to take part in the DofE scheme even though none of my friends did the same.