My First Day
Hello there, I’m James. It’s my first ever post on the all new Youthscape blog and on it I’ll be telling you all about my experiences on this great new youth programme (known as Youthscape) in South West College in Enniskillen. It is a Peace IV funded programme for young people running for three days a week for six months. Let’s begin...
Being the first day, I was a little anxious as to how things would go on this programme but I found it very much to my liking and hugely enjoyable. So what did we get up to today, then?
As is the case with new experiences where we’re meeting as strangers, we did of course all say our names at the start. We played the “Who am I” game and the “Yes or No” game, which were great icebreakers and a bit of craic. We did group exercises and talked about subjects such as countries we’d like to visit, animals we’d (hypothetically) like as pets and films we know about and enjoy. I was not alone in my liking of the “action blockbuster with cars” franchise AKA The Fast and The Furious film! Music was talked about, with some being big rap fans, others being into anything and everything musically speaking. I myself would consider epic instrumental themes as a personal preference. Discussing stuff like this is a way to get us more connected with one another and learn a thing or two about each other.
Being the first day, we established some ground rules. We were split into two different groups and wrote down some good common sense rules like how we would act and behave throughout our time in Youthscape, giving others time to talk and being respectful to others. We all signed this Youthscape contract and of course we’ll all be following it throughout our time here.
We got a mini tour of the College campus area and were told about lunch arrangements and the very handy eight pound allowance per day for attending Youthscape. The staff members are all very friendly and understanding, and are always happy to help the young person should they be experiencing any difficulties
The Youthscape team were keen to get us coming up with ideas for places we could visit, ideas for themes to cover in talks along with anything else we’d like to experience on Youthscape.
The Youthscape ethos is all about helping young people to be the best they can be, to achieve our full potential and to help us to move forward in the journey of young adult life. I have no doubts that we’re in for a whale of a time in the days, weeks and months to come. All in all, my first day on the Youthscape journey (which runs from November to May next year) made a first class first impression in what will be a first class programme, I am sure. Cheers, James.