Finding her direction: how Woodlarks helped Gemma set her career compass.
Gemma (not her real name) grew up in care from the age of 5. By the time she was 17, she was happily settled in a loving foster family and achieving well at school. She had joined the school’s Duke of Edinburgh programme and needed only to find a residential opportunity to complete her Gold Award.
The DofE Opportunity Finder offered so many exciting possibilities, sailing, cookery schools, challenging treks in exotic places… but the costs of some of these options made Gemma’s eyes water! She knew that her foster parents had spent a lot of money on a good sleeping bag and leather boots for her expeditions, and she really didn’t want to ask them for more money to do the residential.
Gemma spotted an advert for Pathfinders (one of our open camps) on the DofE website and saw that it was relatively local to her home, and that Pathfinders offered bursaries where needed. She had found the chance she had been looking for to achieve her residential experience within her family’s budget. Pathfinders is a camp for disabled women, and she was signing up to help a disabled peer to take a full and active part in everything on offer.
Gemma had had no prior experience of supporting someone with a disability, but she was paired with someone around her own age and found that they loved the same music, the same TV programmes… there was so much they had in common. Gemma realised well before the end of the week that she would love to find a career that would give her the same buzz she had found from supporting her buddy at camp.
Two months after camp was over, the camp leader received a reference request… Gemma had applied to join a nursing apprenticeship scheme. The DofE expeditions had taught her how to read a compass, but camp had helped her to set her career compass… and the bursary had made it all possible.
If you’d like to help more young people like Gemma reach their full potential, please consider making a donation today. Your contribution, no matter the size, will directly support life-changing opportunities and help build a more inclusive, caring community for all.