I first took part in the Duke of Edinburgh award in 2004 aged 14, completing my Bronze award. I loved the experiences it gave me, it built my confidence and I enjoyed the charitable element of volunteering. From there volunteering has been part of my life and shaped my career into now becoming a social worker. I always wanted to complete my Gold DofE as I remember being told you get invited to the palace and can meet the Duke of Edinburgh. I left school, completed my A Levels and then went onto university. At around age 21 I looked into completing my Gold DofE as I remembered I would have until I was 25 to complete it. To my amazement when completing my MA in Social Work at the University of Manchester there was a dedicated DofE society, that supported the expedition element. I was so happy. I joined up and was able to take part and was a step further of reaching long term goal of achieving the award. The determination to get the invitation to the palace was prevalent and I was volunteering for many different charities by that point, and managing my studies and other elements of my life. The DofE helped me in so many ways, I made new friends, experienced new things and took on new adventures. I finally completed it in 2014, and was invited to the palace in 2015 and met the Duke of Edinburgh, he came and spoke to me and showed a real keen interest in my story of completing the award, older than other participants as I was at university whilst taking part in the award.