Duke of Edinburgh's Award (2 Viewers)

[chookyn]

http://www.dukeofed.org.au/

anyone here involved, or know someone that is?

being 19, i'm considering directly entering the gold one (max. age for direct gold entry is 23, and have to finish before 25). The whole deal seems like something that could be worthwhile, challenging and fun.

for those who know, what's it like? worth the effort?

 

[velox]

I do it, going for silver. Its awesome. The experience is something that not many people get the chance to do. Definately worth the effort.

 

[Jase]

dude.. i'm so damn lazy i've been on my bronze for 2 years. And now i've just finished school so yeah, things get alot harder. All i need is to take up a sport for 6months.. i wanna try fencing! But yeah.. considering its valid to 25.. i'll try and do the gold.

 

[nicko88]

dude.. i'm so damn lazy i've been on my bronze for 2 years.

lol, same. just can't be bothered to do the amount of hours they require...

 

[hipsta_jess]

I've always wondered (and can't be bothered reading their propaganda), what do you actually do for it?

 

[Jaydels]

I do it, its pretty cool. If you already play a sport then its really easy to do the required hours. I'm going for gold at the moment.

You have to do expeditions, service, skill and physical recreation. For each award the number of hours/ number of expeditions increases. It really is worth doing, it looks good in a resume.

 

[nicko88]

expeditions, sports and rec, skills and community service. that pretty much sums it up.

not that i know much, i was introduced to it by a friend.

 

[hipsta_jess]

Me? Sport? Ha!!!

 

[nicko88]

most people don't actually do it, they just make up that component of the award.

 

[Mike iE]

Ive done Bronze and Silver. I found it was a great thing to do, especially since alot of my friends did it as well, and that made the expeditions more enjoyable. The hardest thing for me was getting the service component done. We also had a champion co-ordinator who made sure the expeditions were to fun locations

 

[chookyn]

most people don't actually do it, they just make up that component of the award.

serious?! that's a pity...

anyway, it sounds good, think i'll give it a go, thnx 4 responding guys.


my proposed activities:

skill: take up piano (again - it's been awhile!)
physical: jogging, or take up squash/tennis maybe
service: still working that out
expedition: done a few of these before in a youth club, looking forward to doing another one!
residential project: be staff at a summer camp, or go on a StormCo mission trip.

is it hard to find an assessor for each component? could you just get a friend who knows what they're on about?

 

[MuffinMan]

What do you do? Camping and life skills right? And whats with the sports thing? Can you do sports instead of camping and stuff? Cause im planning to do next yr

 

[velox]

u cant do sport instead of camping. U have to do camping.

 

[Sphyx]

so would you say it takes up a lot of time, needs a lot of commitment, etc?
ive always wanted to give it a go, but never known how to go about signing up for it. are there like places you go to to sign up or something? i even have the little book lying around somewhere.

 

[Jaydels]

so would you say it takes up a lot of time, needs a lot of commitment, etc?
ive always wanted to give it a go, but never known how to go about signing up for it. are there like places you go to to sign up or something? i even have the little book lying around somewhere.

it depends, if you already do a physical rec and a skill or service, it doesnt really take up much extra time at all. on the other hand, if you dont do any of them it's obviously gonna take up more extra time coz you have to start doing them. it's really worth the time though. i signed up through school

 

[Shell]

Yeah i did it through school. I've done bronze, half silver and didnt do gold. i found it too time consuming. i wanted to focus more on my job n school work. but god the expeditions were sooo much fun. It was just a group of 10 or so people from my year at school. in bronze we went canoeing then in silver we did sailing which was so so much fun. memories to last me forever

 

[demosthenes]

its good fun---i did up to my silver.

 

[sarzosarz]

i'm doin silver, did my bronze n silver expeditions but havent done the service sport and skill section. but the expeditions are THE BEST! its amazing how the natural environment can be so fascinating.. i still remember being moved by lying on the ground staring at the millions of stars. i ahv never seen so many stars EVER! and the sight jus kept me in profound awe. its a feeling words can't describe.. deeply moved indeed..

anyways i did a total of 3 expeditions so the last expedition.. my golly gosh it was the greatest journey i've ever experienced. i forgot my TENT POLES! (that stand as the structure of me and my partner's tent). we realised we couldnt set up our tent! that meant NO TENT=NO SHELTER LOL we were laughin our heads off! but you know wat? we decided to build our own tent. yep like cavemen. THNK GOD there were fallen branches. using my 'repair kit' (rope and string) oh yeh i also forgot my scissors LOL so how did i manage cutting string? using the sharp end of the tent pegs (that u use to jab into the dirt/ground) and scraped HARD.. against rock.

we ended up using safety pins and garbage bags to use as a cover plus my friends BANDAID LOL (cos we ran out of safety pins)
our tent ended up being real stable! the sense of achievement at building our own tent.. making the most out of the worst situation instead sitting there sooking.. MAN IT FELT GREAT! guess its survival instinct^^ challenging n full of hard physical labour while the other groups were enjoying their 'free time' swimming in the lake. it was worth it^___^

another memory would hav to be the butterflies fluttering around us like guardian angels n fairies leading us along the path. there was so many of them.. dunno where they came from! out of the blue from the forest!

my passion for such outdoor adventures has been ignited ever since!

 

[m.c.moey]

duke of ed is fun,
im currently finishing my gold, got my silver and bronze already.
The expeditions were the best fun.. got to meet heaps of new people.. dont necessarily get along with them all but hey its good 2 see the different types of personalities and we sometimes conflict because were all supposed 'leaders'.
But nonetheless its something id recommend for anyone as its the best fun, you get a nifty certificate and some cool badges out of it and you meet lots of new people and learn good stuff. Plus i heard it goes really good in any resume.

 

[eternalparadise]

where are good places to go for expeditions>?