|
|
|
National Cadet of the Year Competition |
|
St John Ambulance - National Cadet of the Year Competition
A Report by Mohamedabbas Jaffer, Portsmouth, Aged 16
A few months ago, I had written a report regarding my involvement as a St John Ambulance Cadet, which started around five years ago at the age of 11. I have taken part in numerous first aid competitions, to reach the position in which I am now. Within the past year, I have been promoted to the position of a corporal within my division and have also been selected as the cadet of the year for the county of Hampshire at the county cadet of the year competition. As part of this role, I had to represent Hampshire at the National Cadet of the Year Competition at Eastwood Hall Conference Centre in Nottingham between the 12th and 14th of January.
Eastwood Hall was a massive complex with top facilities. As I signed in, I saw several other cadets in the same situation say goodbye to their parents as I had done to mine. Nearly everyone carried the same nervous expression. After receiving relevant documents and signing in, I made my way to my room in anticipation with my arms lumbered with heavy bags, only to find that the walk from the front door to my room took almost five minutes! After much struggle I arrived at my room, which was top quality with a television, double bed and en suite. I hurriedly unpacked, changed into my uniform and rushed back downstairs near the entrance to have my photo taken and to meet some of the other cadets.
After a quick and nerve-wracking pre-photo uniform inspection, my picture was taken and I started talking to some of the cadets. Later, we all gathered in the hall for our pre-competition briefing, which was done in the most fun way possible. The organisers were presented as the king and queen of ‘Eastwood Palace’ and all of the other helpers were the princes and princesses. All of the documentation we received was in accordance with this theme and helped us to overcome our nerves. This was followed by some teamwork exercises as an icebreaker so that we got to know each other a bit better after a nice informal dinner.
The next morning, the assessment started. One by one, we were interviewed by a panel of eight assessors, meaning we were greatly outnumbered! In the interview, we were asked about ourselves, our hobbies and ambitions, focusing on the element of St John Ambulance and the roles of the cadet of the year. Whilst the interviews are going on, the other cadets had various sessions focusing on teamwork activities, sessions on our roles as cadets of the years for our county and as potential national cadets of the year and a session on etiquette.
From Saturday afternoon, the fun began! We took part in several fun activities until dinnertime, which was a formal dinner, where we would dine with the assessors, further to our session on etiquette. This dinner had a slight twist – every cadet was to attend in fancy dress relating to a character from children’s literature. This, as you can imagine, gave us the opportunity to have fun and know each other and know the assessors. After a very long, three-course meal, we had the rest of the night off as free time to socialise and chill out after a long day.
On the last day, we woke up to a nice surprise – uniform inspections! These were conducted by an army official and the marks counted towards our final competition score, along with the interview and presentations that were still to come. Each cadet was given 30 minutes in isolation to prepare a topic on one of a selection of St John related topics to present in front of the same panel of eight assessors. After all of the assessments were finished, along with lunch, we prepared for the final parade, where we would find out who had become the National Cadet of the Year for 2007.
All of the cadets had to stand to attention while we were all called out one by one to receive awards for representing our counties at the competition. After much suspense, the national cadet of the year, along with the three deputies, was chosen and it was a cadet called Alice Barrett, representing Greater London, who was made the winner. Following the parade, we all congratulated the winners and said our goodbyes after a long, tiring but fun weekend. There were even tears as we departed – such was the fun that we had shared. |
|
|
