Nathan’s Volunteering Story
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is a real adventure for participants. Volunteers with Somerset Council support the delivery of these amazing experiences for young people across the county.
There are two volunteer roles that work to support the activities required for young people to achieve these great awards.
- DofE Assessor – All qualifying DofE expeditions must be assessed. Volunteers in this role supervise and assess expeditions. These take place on the Quantocks, Mendips, Dartmoor, Exmoor, Brecon’s and others – it all depends on where the D of E centre is doing their expedition.
- Bath and West Volunteer – This role helps supervise the Gold award residentials.
Jenny, from the Central Volunteer Team at Somerset Council, spoke to Nathan find out about his involvement of being a volunteer for the Duke of Edinburgh Award. Nathan currently volunteers as a Bath and West Day Volunteer for the team.
What does your volunteering role involve Nathan?
My role mainly involves providing guidance and support to the gold residential students of the Duke of Edinburgh award, encouraging, and promoting the award to members of the public at the Bath and West show, and promoting the award alongside SSE (Support Services for Education).
How long have you been volunteering for?
I have been volunteering in this role since 2021 and have now done three shows.
Why did you start volunteering?
I started volunteering in to have the opportunity to support and promote the organisation I work for (Somerset Council), to undertake a role different from my day-to-day job, and to provide support and guidance to students.
What keeps you volunteering?
I really enjoy the engagement with the public and doing something different alongside my managerial job at the Council. It’s also such a great team to work with, they are perfect! For me it’s been so encouraging, as a lot of the students I was with at the event said that they wished I was a Duke of Edinburgh assessor. I am very interested in becoming an assessor after this feedback and will look into doing this after I complete my current studies.
What is your favourite thing about volunteering?
This is a hard question as everything is good! I do really enjoy the different interactions with the public and this role really gives me a good chance to do it. I normally talk to suppliers, and this role steps away from that.
What difference has volunteering made to you? For example, making new friends or enhancing your skills.
It has really helped promote my mental health and my work life balance. I have made new friends too and get to meet people from different teams within Somerset Council. The students are all a great bunch of young people and they all get stuck in. I am a very motivated and motivational person and act both as a good mentor to them as well as a friendly face, it’s getting the balance right between these and I have received really good feedback.
What would you say to someone who has never volunteered?
Just do it! It’s an opportunity to break away from the norm and do something that contributes back to both your community and to the students. The students who partake in the award can range from the ages of 14 – 24 years old and they really are a great bunch. They are all doing their residentials and need to get their hands dirty, for example, by putting up tents. Some are not very confident to start with and they can either be really good at communicating with the public or hate it. I am there to give them natural encouragement and help them to have a go at it, what’s the worst that could happen!
Can you think of a good strapline to describe your volunteering?
Time to get your hands dirty and get a break away from the laptop!
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Just that it’s a really good team building event, and my volunteering role is such a good way to do this. It’s also a good way to learn new skills and gain experience. At the events it’s usually two adults per show supporting the stand, this includes it’s set up and replenishing it when needed. We support a maximum of 20 students per show and get to see all of the tents that the students put up, it’s wonderful to see them all off of their phones and I haven’t been to event that hasn’t been great! They all really do have a lot of motivation. We also work alongside two senior members of the SSE, their lead instructor James and his partner are brilliant and keep the students up to date as well as enhancing their wellbeing.
If this has peaked your interest, you can find this role and others here. What are you waiting for!