There comes a time just before school reopens where students reminisce on their summer and all the fun (good or bad) things they did which hopefully did not include watching Netflix for 48 hours straight. This time is what you call popping the bubble. Next week I start my second year at uni, and I’m honestly excited (shocker I know, but I’ve always loved school) !
Over the past four months of not having classes, assignments and not staying up until 6am finishing a paper, I have done so much – travelled, did my work experience, LAUNCHED THIS BLOG (duh!) and had the most phenomenal experience working with young people.
In case you don’t know, I LOVE working with young people. I’ve been in youth work since 2011, and my love for it grows day by day. This all started when my sister (who won’t let me live this down) introduced me to Youth On Fire Movement (then Youth On Fire Ministry), and the rest is written down in the history books of my life.
Time for a backstory: *cue dim lights and soft, pensive music*
Basically, while working as a Student Ambassador at a Higher Education Fair sometime in February, the stall right across my uni’s was that of NCS The Challenge. It caught my eye because it was colourful; colour is kind of my thing and the stall called my name. So being the curious cat that I am, I went over to find out what exactly NCS was. The representative explained that the summer version of ‘The Challenge’ is for young people just finishing their GCSEs getting ready to go to Sixth Form or College. In speaking to her and telling her about my involvement in youth work she told me I was who NCS was looking for ! We spoke for a bit before I had to go back to my own stall and she gave me more information about applying. I went through the process and thankfully was successful.
So let’s get into what exactly NCS The Challenge is, why I think St. Lucia (everywhere, to be honest) needs a programme similar to it, and why it was the most rewarding experience of my Summer.
From their website www.ncsyes.co.uk, I found this definition of WHAT NCS is. It’s simple, straight to the point and encapsulates exactly what I experienced. “National Citizen Service (NCS) is an experience you really don’t want to miss. If you’re 15 to 17 years-old, this is your chance to embark on exhilarating challenges, make your mark and build skills for work and life.”
The Challenge which happens all over England is delivered by Senior Mentors (SM) who are in charge of about twelve young people (YP) throughout its 4 phases (roughly 1 month). I would say that the end goal is for the YP to become more aware of what they should be doing to become active citizens and I would also say its sort of a rite of passage which is necessary. But more on that in a little bit.
Phase 1 is residential and is done in the country side. From the time I’ve been here, I’ve only been out of London once [I went to Birmingham last October for Jounen Kwéyòl. If you know, you know] before and going to north England was welcomed. The landscape and the fresh air really made me feel like I was back home. Called ‘Personal Challenge’, phase 1 is designed so that the young people push themselves physically and also improve their skills while working in teams. We focused on something I found extremely interesting and which I delivered during our evening sessions which my YP and I enjoyed. It was called TRUE (Trust, Responsibility, Understanding and Empathy). Every night we spoke on one of the aspects of TRUE and my YP awarded TRUE awards to member they thought demonstrated these aspects during the day.
Phase 2 or ‘Team Challenge’ dealt with what I think is the rite of passage (as mentioned earlier). We stayed in Halls of Residence and the YP were in charge of preparing their own meals and lived with peers, something many of them had never done before. NCS bought all the groceries and we [mentors] just had to ensure the flats we were in charge of were running smoothly ! Being that we had to travel to and from our session locations every day, many of the young people saw what it would be like when they go to uni in a few years – though you may have stayed up until 3am, you cannot miss your 8am bus ! Alarms didn’t go off, bread seemed to be taking forever to toast, pasta was burned and eating on the go was a frequent sight. Though we still spoke about TRUE, the focus of working together to cook dinners and keeping common areas clean was a skill that I’m sure these YP will not forget. If they do, when they go off to uni and live in Halls or shared accommodation, they will remember their time at NCS.
Phase 3 began our ‘Real Challenge Design’ where we were paired with a community partner while trying to figure out what our volunteer and campaign day for the following week would be. From this week the YP were extremely hands on in sharing their ideas for Phase 4, and were also given more responsibility in leading themselves. I was literally just sitting there ensuring they wouldn’t stray from the topics at hand – they were doing all of the heavy lifting. The highlight of this week for me, was our Pitch Day. The YP were to come up with a pitch to present in front of some ‘sharks’ [similar to shark tank]. After rehearsing our pitch I would say about 30 times, they were happy this part was done !
‘Real Challenge Action’ was the fourth and final phase of The Challenge where we did a lot of physical activity needed for our volunteer and campaign day. Volunteer Day was our day giving back to our community partner who we visited before in phase 3 and Campaign Day was to raise awareness for a specific issue either affecting our community partner or something the YP felt strongly about. We had a sponsorship day raising money to get materials needed, a prep day finalising all the nitty gritty and then the end game of it all; our volunteer and campaign day.
Though I am sure that summer camps happen all over the world to keep YP occupied, NCS The Challenge was something I personally had never experienced. For as long as I can remember myself, I was in a summer camp every year. Whether it was with the Central Library or my favourite KiddiCrew Summer Fun, this gal’s summer was occupied ! Eventually, when I grew up and went to secondary school, I thought that summer camps were for ‘children’. The fact that NCS caters to the needs of these growing teenagers by helping them network, learn new skills, and build on existing ones is exemplary. For some YP who may never go to university, this gives them the experience of living on their own, taking care of themselves and their surroundings and also becoming more aware of social issues and ways in which they can become active citizens. ITS A LOT, I KNOW ! As a mentor going in I honestly didn’t know what to expect, whether any of my team members would grow or if they would come out of The Challenge with anything. When I realised that by the end of Phase 1 how much they had opened up, and the type of discourse they had on issues like politics caused me to see how much they would eventually change as The Challenge went on. The perfectly laid out hand book filled with ways to share concepts to YP, activities to get them engaged and the entire structure of The Challenge was made to be sticky and these YP at the end of all phases grew immensely and hopefully made some life long friends. So my question is this - why can’t a similar programme be done back home ? Educating YP should not be restricted to term time. Being a holistic person comes about when you learn life skills like networking and how to become a more active citizen OUTSIDE of the classroom. I know leadership workshops and camps happen, but the concept of NCS The Challenge is to have it going on for more than a week or two. It takes 21 days to form a new habit right? Having YP in this type of atmosphere for that time is sure to cause a tipping point in their lives.
(If you’ve gotten to this point in my post, THANK YOU. I know its been a long post and has been different from previous content. But in true Unicorn style we are covering it all !)
I’d say that this was truly the most rewarding experience of my summer because of how much I personally took from being a mentor to these YP. They honestly taught me so much. I learnt a lot more about UK culture and the education system through their eyes, got to speak to them about uni life and leaving so far away from home, helped a few with their UCAS personal statements and I tried an English accent and failed horribly (This was one of the highlights of a day in phase three. They tried for a solid 30 mins to get me to say ONE phrase in an English accent. I’m writing this now with a big smile on my face because it was hilarious !!! They cracked up !).
Anyone in the England who has a passion for working with YP would definitely enjoy their time with NCS The Challenge. Though you have the obvious hurdles of attitudes of teenagers, getting persons up and keeping enthusiasm high, its an experience I would definitely want to relive !
***Massive thanks to NCS to granting me permission to write about my experience. Because of Safeguarding protocol I wasn’t allow to take photos with YP or share any I took at various locations hence why there are no pictures as such.
-Your favourite Unicorn
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