Ivy’s review: How NCS gave me more confidence
Written by Ivy (she/her), who did a Live It away from home experience at Kingswood Colomendy in Loggerheads.
3 min read
Five days. Four nights. Seven little questions. Been There, Slayed That is where people give the lowdown on their NCS away from home experience. This week we’re hearing from Ivy!
What motivated you to take part in your NCS experience?
The thing that motivated me most was the assembly we got given at school by someone from NCS. They told us about the different experiences and the benefits of taking part in NCS. The reason I wanted to take part was because I wanted to gain more confidence so that I could learn how to socialise with people better and learn new skills.
Give us a flavour of what you did during your NCS experience
We did a wide variety of activities that challenged us like leap of faith and climbing.
We also did some teamwork activities like problem solving, buggy building, den building, a navigating activity, and Jacob’s ladder.
And some educational activities like citizen’s aid (which was learning first aid and how to handle different situations) and how to look after our money properly.
We also had a campfire where we roasted marshmallows and sang some songs! On the last night we had a silent disco which was a lot of fun.
What did you enjoy most?
I enjoyed the problem solving activities because we had to work as a team to solve them, which was a lot of fun and very funny!
I loved the campfire because we all came together and roasted marshmallows. It also brought back childhood memories when we started singing songs around the campfire.
I also really enjoyed watching the sunsets every night with my friends because we were able to talk about our day whilst watching the beautiful colours.
What was your greatest achievement while on your NCS experience?
My greatest achievement was being able to talk to new people and being able to gain more confidence. Before NCS, I used to be very shy and I used to struggle with new people and making new friends. But on NCS, I realised that it's not as scary as it seems. Everyone was really lovely and I made loads of amazing friends!
Did you learn anything new or helpful from taking part in this experience?
I was able to learn how to speak to new people and how to face my fears. I was also able to learn how to handle money properly,keep it safe, spend it wisely, and what kind of things I would have to be spending it on..like bills!. I was also able to learn some basic first aid skills which will help me in the future.
What memory from NCS will stay with you for life?
All the time I spent with my group and my group leader. We all got along really well and our leader was like a friend to us. If I had to choose one memory to stay with me forever, it would be when we made buggies as a team and then had to ride and race them. It was so much fun!
Also, at the silent disco when we were all singing and dancing together. The leaders joined in with us which made it really fun.
If you had to sum up your NCS experience in three words, what would they be?
Precious, epic and fun ☺️
Ivy, any final thoughts?
NCS was an experience of a lifetime. I would love to relive it. All of our group got along so well and the leaders were so nice. I loved making loads of new friends. I would definitely recommend going on it.
Want to sign up for an NCS experience? Grab your place today! Or if you’ve already been, tell us about it to be featured on the blog.
