By Aidan Nowleiski
On Monday, the 28th of June, Year 10 students at BISB will embark on their first Adventurous Journey for The Duke of Edinburgh Award.
The Duke of Edinburgh Award is a rigorous and challenging program for young people around the world. The essential tenets of the award are values treasured by our school, and teachers have continuously volunteered to spearhead the program. Duke of Edinburgh Award candidates fulfill responsibilities and tasks every week for months before participating in an Adventurous Journey, which is an expedition into the wilderness. The Adventurous Journey is the final step in earning a Bronze, Silver, or Gold Award, with every student having the opportunity to earn all three during their High School career.
While it is true that the Adventurous Journey will commence tantalizingly soon, Duke of Edinburgh assessors Ms. Anderson-Shore and Ms. Wagner have worked around the clock to adapt the Adventurous Journey so that it will be following safety requirements while also satisfying every principle of the award. Although the journey will be a little different, the atmosphere will be the same fun among students. The desire to enjoy nature and collaborate has made many students very excited to take part in the trip.
We spoke with a student (who requested to remain anonymous) who was eager to share their thoughts on Duke of Edinburgh.
Why did you join the Duke of Edinburgh Award challenge?
Honestly, I thought it was a college thing mostly but I ended up having a lot of fun. I wanted to work on being more organized, and keeping to a strict schedule during the program really helped me do that. I’m happy I chose to join.
How do you feel about the Adventurous Journey being right around the corner?
Happy but anxious. I thought for a while that we wouldn’t be able to do anything until next year! I don’t mind that the trip is modified because I’m still excited to do stuff with friends and hopefully get the bronze award soon. I’m anxious about it because it’s so soon and I am traveling to another country right after so it will be a big thing to do before the summer.
What do you hope to gain from the experience?
I think it will be the last big thing I do with people in my class for a while so I hope it will be memorable. The groups are random which is kind of exciting. I got to pick a friend but the rest of the people in your groups are assigned so that you work with people other than close friends. You can work with people you would not work with normally. I hope I can work on teamwork with different peers.
Do you have experience with hiking and the outdoors?
I have done sports outside before but I think I've only hiked once when I was on a school trip a few years ago. Because I don’t have much experience with hiking, trying to keep up with my friends may be hard, but will be fun. If I like it a lot I will see if I can go camping or hike more over the summer!
Will you continue with Duke of Edinburgh and go for the silver award next year?
Yeah! I liked that I had a schedule for my tasks which helped me get more organized, something I needed to get better at in general. I had fun with the activities I was logging and I think I learned a lot. A bunch of my friends did it also which was very encouraging. I definitely will sign up again when I’m in year 11 after the summer break to get the silver award. Hopefully I will be able to get the gold award in the future as well.
We thank the Year 10 student for sharing his insights about Duke of Edinburgh and wish him the best of luck on his upcoming adventure.
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