A GROUP OF teenagers are working hard to ensure the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games do not pass youngsters in the borough by.

The Young Ambassadors of Weymouth College have been to China and now London to gather information on how best to involve the local community in next summer’s sailing competition.

They have set themselves the challenging task of reaching out to every young person across Weymouth and Portland so they do not hear: ‘I wish I...’ after the sailing events next year.

Weymouth College students Maria Lochrie, Gemma Taylor, Jess Smith, Joe Walker, Bessy Peterson, Abbigail Rossiter, Daniel Graham, Jake Male, Lilly Markwell, Nikki-Jo Coleman and Jack Day and two Budmouth sixth form students Elesha Vooght and Michelle Vickery, meet weekly to discuss plans and campaigns.

They recently spent three days in London visiting Hackney College, Greenwich College, Newham College, the London 2012 Organ-ising Committee (LOCOG) headquarters and the Olympic Park to see how 2012 preparations are affecting other Olympic boroughs and what other colleges are doing.

Ambassador Gemma Taylor, 18, said: “The thought they’ve put into the legacy of the buildings is amazing. They want to ensure no white elephants are left over after the Games.

“The two wings of the Aquatics Centre can come off so it will cost less to maintain and the basketball arena is a temporary venue that will go to Rio for the next Games.

“The Olympic stadium can also be reduced in capacity from 80,000 to 20,000.”

She added: “I didn’t know what was involved in the Olympics until I became a Young Ambassador. I was astonished.

“It’s all being done in the background I think and when it comes out everyone will be wowed by it.”

The teenagers aim to dispel the myths in the borough so instead of thinking: ‘Oh roadworks’ when they hear of the Olympics, they think of inspirational athletes and a major sporting event that will put Weymouth and Portland on the map. Their visit to the capital followed a 2010 trip by several Young Ambassadors to Beijing, to find out about the Olympic legacy of the 2008 Games on young people in China, where they were amazed to find out about how many youngsters volunteered.

College Principal Paul Lonsdale said: “If one young person in Weymouth and Portland turns around in October 2012 and says: ‘I wish I...’ then we’ve all failed.

“2012 should be about getting young people to make the most of opportunities.”

At their latest meeting, the ambassadors were also given a talk by Lisa Worthington of Tandem Marketing on the 27 Maritime Mix events taking place over 18 weeks in Weymouth and Portland as part of a Cultural Olympiad celebrations.

Joe Walker, aged 19, said: “There’s been a lot of negative gossip and views about the Olympics.

“We want to get people talking about all the positive things that are going on, like the Cultural Olympiad and all the athletes who will be competing here next year.”