Duke of Edinburgh - Why should you do it?

One the memorable parts of Year 10 and Year 11 for me has been doing the Duke of Edinburgh award. Many countries do take part, but if you don't know what it is I'll give you a quick explanation. The award is made up of three levels; bronze, silver and gold. For each level you will complete sections for one hour per week in 'Physical', which is doing a sport, 'Skills', which is learning a new skill and 'Volunteering', which is your chance to put something back into your local community. The final section is 'Expedition' and consists of a walking and camping trip, where you'll be in groups and will have to be completely self sufficient for 2 days and 1 night on Bronze, 3 days and 2 nights on Silver and 4 days and 3 nights for Gold. Gold also has an extra section 'Residential', which involves a week long residential trip. With school this year I've completed the Bronze and Silver awards, and have experienced some of the best memories from Secondary School as a result of this, as well as getting closer to people who I hadn't even spoken to before the award (my school has nearly 2000 students so not everyone knows each other). If you're aged 14-25 you can take part, but the question is - why should you?

It looks really great on your CV and College or University applications.

This is the most obvious selling point of DofE, but it is true. The colleges I have applied for all asked me about Duke of Edinburgh during my interviews and one of these wrote that it was one of the most impressive parts of my interview in the acceptance letter. Universities also look especially highly on students who have completed the gold award, as do many employers.

You get to learn and experience new things that you might not have done before.

Truthfully, have you ever done any serious walking? With DofE I got to experience the Peak District, which is right on my doorstep, while walking with a group of my friends in the mostly gorgeous weather (aside from one absolutely horrible morning where it rained heavily and constantly for about four hours). You learn to use a map and compass to navigate, and have to camp overnight, cooking your own food and looking after yourself completely. Obviously we had teachers with us, but we did everything for ourselves. Me and a friend actually taught one of the boys in our group how to make hot chocolate (we couldn't quite believe that he is 15 and couldn't make hot chocolate haha).

And it's not just the expedition section that teaches you new things. I worked with disabled children for my volunteer work at my local Riding for the Disabled centre and also got to care for the horses (and got the odd free ride occasionally!).

You make friends and get close to people who you've never spoken to before.

Before we started Bronze, our group hardly knew each other, and was made up of a few closely knit friendship groups and several pairs of friends. Now, after 1 1/2 years, four expeditions and a day walk together, we're all really good friends and will say hello to each other every time we pass on the corridors, share inside jokes constantly, and find it easier to work together in lessons generally.

It's fun!

This is the final and most cliched point, but DofE really is so much fun. Even though the expedition is hard, you're with a group of people that are experiencing exactly the same thing and you all help each other through it. All of our group were so supportive and we had so much fun both while walking and back at the campsites. I got to go out doing photography with my dad for my skills section, and really enjoyed my volunteer work too. For my physical I used Trampolining, as it's my sport, and of course that's something I enjoy as well.

If you get the opportunity to do the Duke of Edinburgh's award in the future you should definitely take it!

Have you done DofE?

xoxo