TO celebrate the Year of Young People, every week in 2018 The National is giving a platform to young Scots. This week, Tudor Westwood of Scouts Scotland
DURING the course of this year you will hear lots about the Year of Young People, and the difference you can make in 2018. However, for youth charities like Scouts Scotland, every year is our “Year of Young People”.
Did you know that there are more than 50,000 Scouts in Scotland? Any young person aged from six to 25 can join.
Scouting is shaped by young people in partnership with adults. That means young people are part of decision-making at every level. As the first chair of our National Youth Advisory Group, I help to make this happen, and it’s an amazing thing to be doing. We exist to support meaningful youth involvement, and celebrate and champion the voice of young people in Scouting.
One of the things I have enjoyed most about my time in Scouting is the chance to make new friends from around the world. Every Scout is part of a worldwide family, and in July, Scotland will welcome more than 1500 young people and leaders from across the world to our own international Jamborette at Blair Atholl.
In Scouting you learn by doing, taking responsibility for your own actions. I have benefited so much by learning new skills, like the ability to represent younger Scouts, which means being able to communicate, persuade and challenge different groups of people.
Last year I spent 10 days living and working in Iceland with 5000 Scouts from almost 80 nations, and a month travelling the stunning country. There were so many Scouts that our main campsite would have been the tenth largest settlement in the country!
While there, we spent time hiking through the iconic Icelandic landscape at the Thingvellir national park with Scouts from across Europe and Australia. Having just met each other we decided to take the opportunity to climb Botnsulur, a cluster of peaks on an extinct volcano.
There is no better place to learn how to work as a team than when you’re ascending 1000 metres with Scouts you have just met. As we climbed higher we learned more about each other and the skills that we each had to help us navigate our way to the summit.
I felt elated when we made it to the summit and could see across the valley, looking with awe across the horizon. While descending we looked back on the route we had just travelled, there was a stillness as we took in what we had achieved and the friendships we forged on the mountain.
All of the amazing things that Scouts do would not be possible without the support of adult volunteers. We have more than 11,000 in Scotland, supporting young people in a variety of roles, from helping young people shape community impact projects in their hometown, to leading adventurous activities.
Throughout the Year of Young People we will look for even more opportunities to celebrate the amazing things that young people achieve through Scouting.
For more information about how you can get involved with Scouts Scotland, see www.scouts.scot
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