Leighton Buzzard teenager selected as youth ambassador for Duke of Edinburgh award
A teenager from Leighton Buzzard has been selected as a youth ambassador for the Duke of Edinburgh award.
Evie Olson, 18, a pupil at Vandyke Upper School, joins a cohort of 31 award holders from around the country as young ambassadors for the Duke of Edinburgh’s award charity.
In her ambassadorial role Evie will share her experiences on key issues affecting young people, speak at events, meet decision-makers in Parliament, and input into decisions that shape the charity’s future work.
Evie has already completed her bronze and silver Duke of Edinburgh awards, and is now working towards her gold award.
For the Volunteering section of her Duke of Edinburgh award, Evie helped at her local library, and became more confident in the process.
“After I settled in at the library, I started helping with the Summer Reading Challenge,” Evie explained.
“The library staff gave me some great guidance, which helped me feel confident enough to take on a more public-facing role.
“It brought me out of my comfort zone, and my passion for reading and literature helped me engage well with the children.”
For her Gold Skill section, Evie chose to dedicate her time to creative writing, and since entering competitions, has seen her work published eight times in the Young Writers magazine.
“I’ve always loved writing - I like that it can be anything I want it to be,” Evie said.
“Writing is so personal, and sharing that can be daunting, but I feel myself getting more confident every time.
“I even read out some poetry in front of an audience after I won a competition, which was so scary, but I’m very proud of myself and how far I’ve come.”
For the Physical section of her award Evie chose to do horse riding, and now has a former racehorse called Arti, who she is training to become a showjumper.
“I started so many new things for my Duke of Edinburgh, so it was great to incorporate something I was already doing,” she said.
“Re-training Arti has been challenging, but really rewarding. You have to start from scratch and treat the horse like he’s never done anything before. I had to teach him how to turn, because he’s used to just running in a straight line.
“Spending time with him is a great stress reliever after school.”
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is open to any young person aged 14 to 24, with participants able to build their own programmes by choosing activities and causes to volunteer for, in order to achieve gold, silver or bronze Duke of Edinburgh awards.