Aaron was awarded the certificate during Labman’s infamous ‘Monday Morning Meeting’ this week to acknowledge the initiative and leadership skills he demonstrated as part of the Rotary District North East, Rotary Youth Leadership Awards which took place in August. The programme included various activities such as raft building, high ropes, a water filter challenge and gorge walking.
Here’s what Aaron had to say about his experience:
"Recently I had the opportunity to go out of my comfort zone and get to know new people and try some outdoor activities and it was without a doubt the most fun I have had in such a long time. I was sponsored by Labman to take part in a Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, a 5-day event which took place at the Kingsway Centre in Middleton-In-Teesdale. Some of the activities we did include raft building, high ropes, water filter challenge, gorge walking, and many more group activities where individuals can get the change to lead the group. There was 15 of us in total and we split into 2 groups of 7 and 8.
My group of 8 instantly bonded and we worked well when set our challenge. One of the highlights was making a raft out of 6 beams of wood, 4 barrels and some rope! This challenge was set to get an idea of delicate transportation as Rotary International provide polio vaccines for people in places that would normally struggle to receive aid. We were given 2 eggs to safely transport to the other side of the river. I took the lead for this challenge and distributed tasks among the team asking different people to look up sailing knots and design ideas, so we know what were doing when we are making the boat at the side of the river. I guided our team through the design and demonstrated what knot we were going to primarily use. Following this we quickly made an impressive frame to hold the barrels in place and then sat it on the barrels to test its strength. Once we were happy, we secured the barrels to the raft and brought it over to the river. Now we all had to get wet an get in the river to push the boat out far enough but luckily, I saw how this was going to happen and jumped onto the boat, so I avoided getting wet. Id later regret this as mutiny among the ship led to me being thrown into the river as everyone was jealous that I hadn’t got wet. When we attempted to paddle to the other side, we learnt that because of the heavy rain we recently had the river was a lot stronger and deeper than normal so couldn’t cross the river and even paddling against the current we could not progress upstream. But this demonstrated the build quality of our raft when you plan and communicate effectively as a team. Despite our failed attempt to cross the river we were all very happy with what we achieved and had
a great time doing it.
This week had been one of the most entertaining weeks I have ever had and am so thankful for Labman sponsoring me to do it, and Rotary putting on the course. I got to learn about the amazing things rotary do around the world to make people lives better. Throughout the week I developed as leader and as a team member and made some memorable moments and friends I will never forget."