BEST FRIENDS, THANKS TO NCS! - NCS GRADS, AIDEN AND SAJ

It’s National Best Friends Day! And to celebrate we caught up with NCS grads and best mates Aiden and Saj to find out how they became friends...

First off, let’s hear from Aiden!

It all started in 2017, when I went on Kickstart. We met up with our region and started to get to know one another. Right from the start Saj was making jokes with everyone. He was down to earth and brilliant at making everyone feel included. Knowing he was going to be on the same board as me for the year made me feel lucky as I knew it was going to be a brilliant year.

We have both taken the opportunity to go to as many events as possible over the last two years we’ve known each other and after each event we’ve got to know one another even better, learning more and more about each other’s different cultures. Saj has been there for me every time I have needed him! He has always been just a phone call away.

Even though we live around 80 miles apart from each other, it doesn’t stop us from seeing each other as much as possible. We’re constantly messaging each other on Snapchat and calling each other, and next year we’re looking forward to moving into a flat together for university. I’m sure we will continue to have a laugh together and learn new things about each other.

Looking into this summer, both me and Saj decided we would apply for positions on YHA. Once we both knew we had interviews we helped to prep each other. With help from Saj advising me on how to answer the questions I managed to get a place, as did Saj! We are now both looking forward to spending our summer volunteering on a summer camp.

Amazing stuff! Now let’s see what Saj has to say about their friendship...

So, I met Aiden on Kickstart 2017. He was quite a funny person. He was joining different groups of people trying to get people to have fun and have a laugh and when I found out he was in my Regional Youth Board (RYB) I was excited to meet him and talk to him.

Since Kickstart, we’ve been involved with the RYB continuously and tried to get involved in as many opportunities NCS offers us as possible. On the last meeting of the RYB last year, both me and Aiden found out we had spots to attend NCS Leaders, which we were so excited for as it has allowed us to represent our region.

Some of the opportunities we’ve had thanks to Leaders have been amazing, like Armistice (where we helped out during Remembrance Day in London) and meeting the England football team (which was amazing!).

In October/November time, me and Aiden were talking about our university choices and it turned out that we’d both applied for the same university, as our first choice! A couple of months later and we’d both been accepted. We started looking for accommodation for us to live in and found a nice place that we both liked. We went for it and got our places!

NCS has helped me a lot since going on programme. It’s allowed me to be involved in some of the most incredible opportunities and of course, led me to meet Aiden and other people, which I am so grateful for.

Thanks to Aiden and Saj for sharing their story! To learn about more friendships formed on NCS, check out our Togetherness Series.