During my Third year at Secondary school I was offered the opportunity to take part in the Duke of Edindurgh Award scheme. To achieve the award it is compulsory that you complete a personal programme of activities in four sections. As a result of these activities I found myself helping people, the community, getting fitter, developing skills, and going on an expedition. For the volunteering section that I completed for 6 months I taught primary school children to swim for an hour a week. I found this aspect of the award very rewarding and I really enjoyed working with a variety of different children. For the physical side of the award I continued horse riding which I do on a regular basis and set myself a realistic aim to achieve. The final independent section was the skills section. For this I learn how to cook a 3 course meal to a high standard and I view the skills I gained invaluable! With my team, we planned an aim for our expedition, decided on a location and did a large amount of training to ensure we were fully prepared. We completed a practice and afterwards the qualifying expedition. Once we had completed our final expedition we gave presentation about our experiences and achievements to an Assessor. Throughout the whole experience I have learnt so much and although there were some frustration along the way it was very worthwhile.