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Young Banbury man named a Duke of Edinburgh’s Award UK Youth Ambassador
03/02/2023
18-year-old Flav Covaci completed his award at the North Oxfordshire Academy
A student from the North Oxfordshire Academy will speak out for young people across the UK after being selected as a Youth Ambassador for The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE).
18-year-old Flav Covaci joins a cohort of just 35 other DofE participants and Award holders from across the country who will advocate for young people within the charity and wider community throughout the year. They will work to design and deliver campaigns and help shape the direction of the DofE by sharing their expertise on key issues impacting young people.
The DofE recruited its first panel of Youth Ambassadors in 2021, as part of its commitment to put young people at the heart of its work, supporting them to champion and represent the charity at events and panel discussions and make young people’s voices heard at the highest levels.
Flav signed up for his DofE Bronze looking for adventure and fun with friends. He completed the award at the North Oxfordshire Academy and never expected his journey to give him new passions, help him re-discover things he loved, and set him on a new direction in life.
Undertaking a DofE programme involves completing four challenging sections: Physical, Skills, Volunteering and a demanding Expedition. Flav began writing book reviews for his Skills section, and this saw him fall back in love with reading, with DofE giving him the time to commit without it feeling like a luxury.
Speaking on his appointment as a Youth Ambassador, Flav said: “What DofE did for me was give me that independence, the sense I oversaw what I was doing. It allows you to focus time purely on yourself, the time and space to push past your self-imposed boundaries, giving you back some control.”
The DofE is a non-competitive, personal challenge that gives all young people the chance to discover new passions, broaden their horizons and make a difference on issues that matter to them. Through their DofE, young people develop vital skills, confidence and resilience to help them take on challenges and fulfil their potential. In 2021/22, more than 321,000 young people started their DofE – the highest figure in the charity’s 66-year history.
The DofE is working to reach a million young people by 2026 – with a particular focus on those facing barriers to taking part, such as young people from marginalised communities.
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam