Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award Expedition

On the 23rd of August, on a very cold morning 35 students from Year 10 accompanied by Mr Prasad and Ms Jenkyn arrived at school at 6:45am, ready to board the bus for our Silver Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expedition. We travelled 3 hours to Camp Somerset, near the Colo river. Our expedition was split into two 3 day hikes, a practice and a qualifier. In each hike we did 1½ days of hiking and 1½ days of canoeing. We were split into three groups and over the next 6 days, our teamwork was tested and our abilities to route plan and identify geographical features developed.

Each group was provided with a map and a set of coordinates which were our checkpoints. Each group had to plan what route they would take to get to their checkpoints. We developed skills including reading maps, taking bearings, identifying land features on a map and in your surroundings and estimating the time it would take to complete our journey.

The Duke Of Ed program is an international program available to people aged 14-25 aimed to encourage young students to broaden their skills, get physically active, give service, experience adventure and in general try new things. The program has been running for several years at Fort Street and has been a highlight of many students’ high school activities. This year, the program has become a requirement for all Year 9s in order to encourage students to discover and fulfill passions as well as challenge their comfort zone. Furthermore, as universities and companies are adjusting their acceptance processes, it is becoming more important that students are able to display their abilities to perform a wide range of skills as well as show what they can bring to the table. The Duke of Ed award is a great activity that satisfies all of these necessary skills for the future.

The Duke of Ed program and this hike would not be possible without the support and advocation of Ms Jenkyn, Mr Prasad, Ms Jerrems and Ms Page who have always been there to answer all our questions and allow us to have such an amazing experience. This program has allowed us to learn new skills and sign up for programs that we would not have done otherwise.

Crystal Pham, Bhuvan Senthil and India Treweek
Year 10
Duke of Ed Leadership Team