On Wednesday 14th September we welcomed the next wave of NCS Graduates to the historic Winding Wheel in Chesterfield.
All participants had put an incredible amount of work into NCS, giving up part of their Summer holidays to take part in the scheme. They overcame challenging activities together, learnt new skills and created some amazing projects to help their communities.
This celebration was attended by young people and their families to showcase their achievements on Wave Three of the Summer National Citizen Service (NCS). The atmosphere was really buzzing with excitement and a lot of nerves! There was lots of catching up of new friends made on NCS, selfies being taken and presentations being rehearsed.
The journey these young people had been on was really noticeable, with all teams stepping up onto the stage and presenting their Social Action Project. This is daunting for the most experienced and the teams pulled together, supported each other and overcame their nerves to deliver great presentations. They showed incredible maturity, a great ability to reflect on things that didn’t go so well and had turned these into positives.
Each team was welcomed in turn to the stage, as their leader recounted the highlights of their wave. Every young person received a certificate as an official document to mark their hard work and the challenges they have overcome. This certificate and the hard work they have invested in NCS is recognised by universities, colleges and employers and will help them in the future by making them stand out above the rest.
The graduation ceremony enabled us to give special recognition those participants that had gone the extra mile and social action projects which had made the biggest impact on the local community. Within each of the four teams from Wave One, a ‘Social Action Hero’ was chosen by their FF Team Leader.
We were delighted to recognise the achievements and awarded the ‘Social Action Hero Award’ to:
- Sophie Gabbitas
- Ben Cutts
- Nathan Hamer
- Reece Knight
Every team fearlessly took to the stage to present their social action project which they designed, planned and carried out over the Summer. We were honoured to welcome leaders from the local community who judged the presentations, and would like to say a big thank you to them for giving up their time to join us and celebrate the impact of our young people.
- Alan Ward, Community Organisers
- Bekah Anstey, Young Enterprise
- Simon Paterson, Ingeus
- John Croot, Chesterfield Football Club
- The teams learning and knowledge gained
- The teams impact on their community
- The team skills that participants have learnt and developed throughout the programme including creativity, self-confidence, risk-taking, energy and leadership.
- Any additional special recognition, including having other people involved in the project, creating multiple projects or creating a sustainable project
The Social Action projects were diverse and reflected the interest and passions of the young people; from a focus on positivity in Chesterfield to focusing on support for post-natal depression.
The winning team, ‘BrightSox’ and their ‘No Excuse’ project focused on improving spirits in chesterfield. They carried out Random Acts of Kindness, and fund raised. Their presentation was commended by the judges for its openness about the lows as well as the highs. It demonstrated a massive amount of learning from the first to the last, turning negatives to positives and determination.
The judges were impressed with the maturity of the young people in the team, and their great project management.
All graduates should be really proud of what they have achieved and we’re delighted to have publicly acknowledged the dedication, leadership and commitment they have shown by taking part in NCS. We would like to thank them, and every single member of staff that led, mentored and supported the participants on Wave Three to compete the programme!
Michelle
‘It was amazing to see the wide variety of projects undertaken. What really impressed me about these young people was their grit and determination. Many of the teams faced difficulties, which they overcame and learnt a lot from. For them to stand in front of all those people and present their project just goes to demonstrate how far they have come in building their confidence through this amazing programme.’
NCS is a life changing four week Government funded programme getting young people connected and active in their local community. Over 200,000 young people aged 16-17 in the UK will have been taken on a journey to increase their leadership skills, teamwork and communication skills as well as developing trust, responsibility, understanding and empathy through the NCS programme.You can find out more about NCS at www.ncsyes.co.uk and www.facebook.com/NCS.