My name is Vedaansh Sharma writing about the Duke of Edinburgh experience. With a small group of just 13 people, we spent a total of 12 hours a day hiking in the mountains of Vermont which proved to be a challenge however it was also incredibly rewarding as we were able to hike through some of the most beautiful landscapes in New England. This article will discuss the aims of our group and how the experience provided us with new knowledge of circumstances we would likely never face in our day-to-day lives.
The day we arrived at the camp we were faced with our first challenge, setting up our tent. At first, my tent mate and I were confident with our skills, as we quickly scurried to get everything out of the packaging. To build the tent we needed two sticks and a cloth. We thought this would be an easy job. However, our hopes were quickly dismantled as we saw Mr. McLean appear perfectly poised, moving gracefully through each step. Eventually, we finished the job after much heartbreak. After sleeping snuggly and comfortably on a slab of rock, we all woke up with enthusiasm ready to take on the day. Memorized by the beauties of Vermont, we were surprised to hear that Mr. McLean would not be hiking with us. How could we possibly survive? We were trekking all day, which was a tiring task but in the end, was a successful hike. We saw many natural beauties and were given many opportunities to gain evidence for our focus.
As a group, we had to decide what our focus was during our hikes, whether it be animal life, plant life, water features, etc. After discussion, we decided that our focus would be on the history of the national park we were staying at. This may seem like a peculiar goal, but our circumstances benefited us as through our hike there were many instances where we either saw historical features like houses or farms or were given handouts explaining the history behind the trails. The most interesting fact we learned on our hike was that the trails were named after significant farmers, one being ‘Cotton Trail’ we found this unusual as whose name would be cotton? These farmers were only here for a short period of time, as they suffered from the hazardous rainfall which ruined all their crops, resulting in them moving to a more sustainable area of America, the west coast.
This trip was a great learning experience for my peers and me as we were faced with many challenges and overcame most of them. It was a great bonding experience for our grade. If you are about to enter high school and reading this, I highly recommend you take advantage of this opportunity, the Duke of Edinburgh is a great award offered by the school.
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