Over the past four weeks I have been taking part in a programme called NCS or National Citizen Service. The programme is aimed at 16-17 year olds to challenge themselves as well as helping the local community. I've had an amazing time completing the programme and I wanted to share it with you all as well as providing me with something to look back on in the future - if you ever have the chance to take part, please do it!

Week 1: 29 June - 3 July
Arriving on the very first day was admittedly terrifying despite knowing quite a few people that were taking part, I had no idea who of those people would be actually be in my group. When I was directed to my team I slipped into the first chair I could locate to avoid being the awkward person seeking out people I knew. After a bit of bonding and comfort from those I knew already, the team began to slowly bond together.
Throughout the first week the team completed a range of activities to bond and, for some, push ourselves into the 'challenge zone'. For me, my biggest challenge was having to be in open water and having to swim with not much around me for support as I found out I am not as strong a swimmer as I used to be resulting in me not getting very far and getting tired very quickly. However, with the help of my team I managed to get back to shore even if it did mean them dragging me out of the water! One day we were due to be doing wake boarding, which of course was open water - by this point I was also beginning to miss home quite a bit. Everything seemed to get on top of me and it resulted in me finding getting onto the wake board and challenging myself even more difficult. I did eventually bite the bullet, get on the wakeboard and begin my attempt at going around the course. I managed to get half the way around and felt so incredibly proud of myself, especially with my team cheering behind me as I was pulled off the starting point. This lead me to give it another go another two times However, the lap in which I managed to get the furthest, I fell off the board and the wake board hit me in the head leaving a nice lump and bruise - it was so worth it though!
Other activities from the week included canoeing, stand up paddle boarding and high ropes - more I found more challenging than others.
In the evenings our team often stuck together and played other games such as catch competing in the rounders tournament - we came second due to two point goal difference! This meant that our team was very tight and everyone seemed to be getting on relatively well and enjoyed being in each others company.

Team 5 Wake Boarding Day!

Week 2: 6 July - 10 July
For week two we were staying in a university campus and had to cook our own meals and wash our dishes to give us an insight into university life and being independent. I didn't find this part of the week too difficult as I cook my own food at home anyway. However the most difficult part for me was trying to stay calm with my other team members who weren't necessarily helping as much as others were. It frustrated me that it was always the same people doing the dishes or cooking when everyone was meant to have a go instead of letting other people do it for them.
As for activities we helped with a community project in which our group was cleaning a pathway and cutting down bushes to improve accessibility on the course. I found this to be a lot more fun than I though it would be! I found that the feeling of proudness you get after helping someone outweighs the negativity you might have to a project - I don't like gardening but seeing the work afterwards made me very proud of myself and gave me a sense of accomplishment. Having the team around me also meant that we were always laughing and joking about something which also made the time go faster.
A challenging moment for me was coasteering because of the open water and growing anxiety about my swimming ability. I have never felt the desire to run and jump off things which made the idea of coasteering very strange to me. However, once again after gathering myself and with some well needed encouragement from my team and leaders I took the plunge - quite literally. Admittedly I didn't enjoy it as much as wake boarding and every time I jumped in the water the first thing I wanted to do was get out again. I feel like I could have pushed myself a bit more to jump off on my own accord instead of having to but I am still proud of myself for what I did manage to do.
Towards the end of the week we also had an oscars night in which we recapped the past two weeks and the challenges we had faced. There were also awards given out during the evening in various categories. I was nominated by my team leaders for the award of 'most glamorous' which despite not winning, I felt incredibly flattered by!

Team 5 - Oscars Night

Week 3: 13 July - 17 July
For this week we were based within the community and had to plan what social action projects we wanted to do to help the surrounding area. This week was definitely the slowest to begin with as not many decisions were made and many of the team, including myself, were indecisive on what we could do and what charity to help in the process. Once we had chosen our charity (STAK) we then had to figure out what we would be doing throughout the fourth week to help the charity and what other work we would be doing - it couldn't all be fundraising. As the week progressed we were getting rejected from a lot of places and I began to wonder if we would ever have enough social action projects to carry through the week. However, by the end of Thursday we had a full outlook of the projects we would be working on over the next week. This included helping out in a local primary school with gardening as well as a local care home with their painting. Within this week, we also proposed to do a rough sleep to try and simulate the conditions that a homeless person would sleep in - we also had only £3 to spend on three meals.
I was put in charge of all of the online media and raising awareness for what we were doing on the Facebook page in which we had set up. This included design work of the logo and header and well as sharing the information the team were giving me about the work we would be doing in the following week. It was important for us to do this especially for events in which we were doing fundraising to try and get more people down to the site and to help STAK. Doing this, I felt very much in my element and took it on as if I were doing promotions for this blog.
On the Friday, we teamed up with another team that were based in the same area as us and did a bake sale. My our team it was about raising money for STAK as well as more awareness for the charity - I had only heard about it at the beginning of the week but I already felt a need to try and help them with the work that they do. In total, we raised £263.61 from the bake sale, raffle, selling of chocolate and seeds which is more than I ever thought we would manage.
We definitely had a lot of issues during this week but we managed to push through them to finally get a fully planned out week. Because of this week, I know that if I continue to focus on the end goal and keep pushing through it is very likely that I will get there eventually.

Team 5 Not Really Planning Much...

Week 4: 20 July - 24 July
Week four meant carrying out the projects we had planned in the previous week. The week began helping at a local school with their overgrown gardens by cutting back bushes and tidying the garden beds. As I mentioned earlier, gardening is hardly one of my favourite things to be doing but seeing the transformation from a none recognisable flower bed to a recognisable one felt very rewarding and kept me going throughout the day. Other activities throughout the week included a bag pack at the local Tesco in which we also managed to raise quite a bit of money from as well as increasing awareness for STAK.
After this, we travelled down to BF Adventure to take part in our sponsored overnight rough sleep. Admittedly I didn't find it too difficult but I know if I had done several more nights I would have hated it - it's not a lifestyle I wish I have to live by. However, in this time myself and a few other team members stayed up sharing stories and just generally having a lovely and hilarious conversation. In this time, I had conversations with various team members about how much we were going to miss NCS once it was over and being around the team everyday.
The days afterwards included helping dig a drainage system on the archery course to reduce flooding on the field as well as painting sections of the local care home with a lot of colour to brighten it up.
Although some of the activities may not have been the most thrilling, the team were always around to provide something hilarious to say and to keep everyones morale high!
Throughout this week I found that it was important to keep going otherwise I would get out of the swing of the work I was doing and end up in a slump of 'ugh I don't want to be doing this'. However, I never got to that point because I found it rewarding and I knew it was what I had signed up to do.

Meeting the local MP

Things I Took Away From NCS:
When I began NCS I wanted to grow in confidence as it had taken a big hit over the past few years and was now beginning to affect me a lot more than I wanted it to. However, completing the programme has resulted in me restoring a lot of faith in myself and reassurance in the fact that I can do things if I really want to. Because of my growth in confidence, I feel more comfortable leading than I did before but is something that I know I still need to work on and am determined to do over time.
I have also met some amazing people and I hope that I stay in contact with them because without the teams continued support I know I would have struggled a lot more throughout the weeks and activities. They have also managed to quite often make me cry with laughter or laugh so much that my stomach physically hurts - I now can never look at an apple, orange or banana in the same way again. It also reminded me that making friends really isn't that difficult and therefore puts me in a much more comfortable position for when I start college and therefore meeting new people.
I also managed to push through the barriers that we were having, especially in week three - it has shown me that with determination and perseverance you can achieve what you intend to if you stick at it.
On a final note, I really loved the programme and being a part of it has been an amazing experience as well as being incredibly rewarding. I have decided that I would like to try and stay with the programme and become a leader as I feel that it will continue to push me as well as being rewarded for helping others face their fears and to try and be a comfort to them - we'll see how that goes in the time that follows!

Team Hug!