FOR the past year, Weymouth College has been running the South West of England’s most successful Personal Best scheme with around 50 participants so far.
The short course aims to get the long-term unemployed into volunteering schemes and to provide them with skills to get back into work.
A total of 22 of the course participants applied to be a 2012 GamesMaker volunteer and will find out if they have been successful later this year.
Others have signed up for the local Weymouth and Portland Ambassador volunteering scheme.
A celebration of all the Personal Best students’ achievements will take place on April 14 with double Olympic Gold medallist sailor Sarah Ayton at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy.
The college was officially welcomed in to London 2012’s Get Set network last May in recognition of its commitment to the Olympic and Paralympic values.
Since 2009, the college has offered its students the chance to become Young Ambassadors. This scheme initially chose six students to begin work across the college and local schools to enthuse students and staff about London 2012 and to gather information and work on projects to bring a true Olympic legacy to Weymouth and Portland and its young people.
Six more Young Ambassadors, including two Budmouth College pupils, have since been recruited and all have visited sites from the 2008 Games in Beijing and Qingdao, which hosted the last Olympic Sailing competition. The 12 Young Ambassadors meet regularly at Weymouth College and are currently co-ordinating projects including a mini-Olympics for this summer for schools in the area.
One project nearing completion is the introduction of beach wheelchairs to Weymouth beach, thanks to the hard work of Maria Lochrie and Weymouth and Portland Borough Council. In October, another six Young Ambassadors will be recruited and the group of 18 will continue working with young people, not only in Dorset but also with the other participating boroughs in London.
Follow their progress at www.weymouth.ac.uk/ambassadors
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