A presentation by the head of a youth self-development award organization takes place this week with the hopes of including more of Powell River’s young people in an upcoming project.
Umeeda Switlo, executive director of Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in British Columbia and Yukon, will be in Powell River to give a presentation on the award program and to talk to potential youth leaders from 7 to 9 pm, Thursday, January 16 in the Brooks Secondary School library.
“We have youth from all over the province participating in the awards, but we have barely any from Powell River,” said Switlo.
The award program was founded in 1956 by Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, and came to Canada in 1963. The program currently runs in 141 countries around the world and about 7,000 youth in BC, aged 14 to 25, challenged themselves last year, said Switlo.
The program encourages youth to be active, participate in new activities and pursue current interests in four areas: community service, personal skill development, physical fitness and adventurous journey.
There are three levels to the award: bronze, silver and gold. Each level has increasingly difficult challenges in each of the four areas.
“It’s like project management and the project is the youth themselves,” said Switlo. “They learn how to manage and challenge themselves.”
To qualify for a gold award, youth must complete a residential project like the one currently being organized in Powell River this summer.
Last November the Powell River Diversity Initiative Society received a $10,000-grant from the Inspirit Foundation, a national organization which supports developing a more inclusive and pluralistic Canada through funding projects that foster engagement and exchange between young people of different spiritual, religious and secular beliefs.
The money will go to a residential camp project called The Dream Catcher which will include over 50 youth from around the province and will be hosted at the Outdoor Learning Centre at Haywire Bay this summer by School District 47’s Outdoor and Ecological Learning Department. Youth will participate in team-building activities, dialogues and a workshop led by First Nation communities on the theme of spirituality.
“It would make me really happy to see youth in Powell River enrolled in the program and qualified to be at that residential project in their backyard,” said Switlo.
Youth interested in participating in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards can find more information at Switlo’s presentation or can go to the program’s website.
