Thanks to the very kind donors who give to Outward Bound, I was lucky enough to be selected for a scholarship to attend a 21 day Classic course.
I was honoured to be given such an awesome opportunity. I had no idea of what lay before me, I was as excited as I was nervous. However I soon realised that I had no reason to feel nervous because those 21 days were the absolute greatest days of my life.
Before I came to Outward Bound I wasn’t in a good place. I wasn’t interested in being involved at school and I didn’t have many friends, I’d hide in my room and never talk to my family. I certainly had no plans for my future, I was just trying to get through life day by day.
Two years ago I lost my mum to cancer. After Mum was gone I felt like everyone was watching me - with the expectation that I was going to go off the rails and fail.
I didn’t realise then, but now I think I was probably depressed. I knew I didn’t want to be like that, but I thought that was the normal me.
After a few days at Outward Bound I decided that I was no longer going to be an unhappy person, and with the help and support of my new great friends and our awesome instructors I made a change for the better.
One of the things the instructors taught us that really resonated with me is “attitude effects outcomes”. They explained how anything can be changed by the way you think about it.
Whatever the situation, you have the power to choose how it affects you.
I became more positive, enthusiastic, motivated, and over time I even became a bit of a funny dude and was genuinely happy in almost every situation.
Before I knew it, our time had come to an end at Anakiwa and we were packing our bags ready to pile onto the boat. I looked around at my watch mates and no longer saw strangers, I saw a whanau.
Anakiwa is a place that I can call my second home, and the staff my family. It was a place of both learning and healing for me, I felt as if I was in a new world, a world of adventure, a world of challenge.
There are so many people like me that are just waiting to unlock their potential through OB. By donating to Outward Bound, you really can change someone’s life.
I hope you can see how much it’s changed my life and that I’d never have been able to go to OB if I had to fund it myself. You’ll be helping give young people a second chance at life.
I’m inviting you to join Outward Bound in making a difference to a young person like me so that they too can learn, heal, and grow.
Yours in adventure, Jordan Dwight - 16 yrs, Cook 639
Your donation will help us continue to provide life-changing experiences to people like Jordan from across New Zealand.
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