The Gold Award Forum was introduced to me by Mrs. Sadler. Without her encouragement I would never have been elected. The selection process to be part of the forum consisted of a nomination, a letter explaining why you should be part of the forum and a one to one interview with the Head Director of Dof E. Amongst thousands that applied, I was fortunate enough to be chosen.
The Gold Award Forum is a group of 10 young people across London and our main role is to promote and encourage students to take part in the Dof E award. Our promotion reaches as far as the Middle East, which makes our job very challenging, but yet very rewarding!
Some activities include joining up with other Dof E participants from different countries, and find out what is similar and what is different about the scheme. Fund raising plays a major role in being part of the forum as our main objective is to gain the materials and equipment to expand the Dof E.
Being part of the forum means we work very closely with young people and I would love to promote St Catherine's as much as I can and get our name known within the award, as I know this will benefit us greatly. So any ideas about fund raising or ways of expanding the award will be strongly welcomed.
As most of you are aware I am the face of Dof E, this means that I will be in the brochures and on the website. I attended a photo shoot on Friday which was something different, getting my hair and make up done! Admittedly I felt quite cool standing in central Westminster posing and strutting my stuff along the embankment in bright clothing!
I am using the forum to contribute toward my Skill’s section, this means that I will be running the monthly meetings and being in charge of any events or speeches to other schools.
I am also able to take some pupils to some of the events with me and the rest of the forum. These trips will include Buckingham Palace, The Bank of England, The Equality4U campaign which is a chance for young people to explore four key human rights issues and many other business conferences and I would love to take some of you with me, as it will be such a great experience.
For me, the most exciting trip of the forum is going to Egypt, the group will spend 10 days exploring and seeing the wonders of the country. The first two nights will be in Cairo, where we will meet another youth team taking part in the award and discussing any changes we feel they need to make in order to make it harder or easier. The following 3 days will be spent on the Nile deep sea diving. The last few days will be in Sharm el sheik which is our treat for all the hard work we have done over the year.
However, as you are all probably aware Egypt is currently unstable, so our second choice of destination is going to be Dubai to visit the business world which runs the United Arabs. Either one of the two residentials will be thrilling and definitely a new experience for me.
Finally, I would like to thank St. Catherine's for giving me the opportunity and a great deal of encouragement to take part. Especially Ms. Sadler who has supported me the whole way and who has shared her knowledge and more evidently her enthusiasm for the award.
Thank you
Simrin Grewall
Year 12