Tuesday 22 September 2009

22/09/2009 - Duke Of Edinburgh Award


Today I have received my Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award.  For this award I partook in 4 sections: service to the community, skills, physical and the expedition which where carried out over my final year at school (2007-2008)

Service to the community - For this section I took the opportunity to learn first aid so that if the opportunity arises I know how to and treat someone effectively.

Skills - Christchurch Youth Theatre Project on Sexual Health and Teen Relationships. In February 2008 I joined the Christchurch Youth Theatre, a new group of young people working together to create a piece of educational theatre to show at youth theatres and schools.  It began by devising ideas and creating a story line.  We decided that currently there are many issues surrounding sexual health with the youths' today and many people are not aware of the dangers.  We believed that through drama we could connect to our peers on a level that some adults haven't achieved through lessons at school etc.  We secured funding from the national lottery scheme, which took a lot of work, so that we could buy props, costumes and hire vans and halls.  To ensure we had our facts right we spoke to nurses (general and sexual health nurse) and did a lot of research.  In the end we devised and rehearsed and eventually performed our piece of theatre 'Concequences'.  The plot focuses on a party, involving many realistic characters that many people could relate to, where people get drunk and two teenagers end up having un-protected sex.  We take a look at vulnerable people who lie about their sexual experience and show how friendships can be tested at hard times.  There is a lot of information about STI's and treatments through the clinic scenes and also some comedy moments to give the piece a light hearted feel so the audience don't feel as though they are being lectured.  I really enjoyed being a part of this and feel great to have hopefully made a difference to young people in my area.

Physical - I took up a new sport, badminton, in school for this section.  Having only played a few times previously it was a great opportunity to learn the skills involved.  I met new people through my badminton classes and became confident playing double matches with them.  Natalie, one of my badminton colleagues, was someone I got to know very well and we would often pair up for matches together.  At one particular tournament together we won 2 out of the three double matches; we also took part in single matches. Once I had become confident enough with how to play, some of the group and myself were asked to become mentors for the newer additions to the group and help with classes for younger students.  I thoroughly enjoyed learning this as a new sport and even though it is something that sadly I have not continued with, is something that I would like to take up again in the future.

Expedition - Walking is something that I really enjoy doing, especially on planned routes in my local area.  Our expedition weekend was around the Perbecks.

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